The xx’s Oliver Sim announced his debut album in May. HIDEOUS BASTARD, as it is titled, is set to be released on September 9, 2022 on the Young record label. The announcement accompanied Sim with the release of his new single “Hideous”. Check out the video shot by Yann Gonzales here:
Now Oliver Sim has not only released another new single with “GMT” – one of the first songs he wrote for HIDEOUS BASTARD, but also announced a tour that will take him to Germany, among other places.
See and hear “GMT” by Oliver Sim here:
Speaking of GMT, Oliver Sim says: “I traveled to Australia with Jamie (Jamie xx) to escape the British winter. We worked on music in Sydney and took a road trip to Byron Bay, stopping at secluded beaches and listening to The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson a lot along the way. “GMT” was the first song we recorded together there and it included a sample of Brian Wilson’s “Smile”. The song is about the longing for a love at home, which is thousands of kilometers in different time zones. It’s also a love letter to London – my hometown.”
Musikexpress presents: Oliver Sim on tour 2022 – the dates in Germany
26.10. Berlin, Admiralspalast
27.10. Hamburg, bad & dangerous
Tickets and more information at www.meltbooking.com.
Sim had written a detailed text about “Hideous” and published it on YouTube under the video. In it he described, among other things, what the song and the album are about – his HIV disease and how to deal with it: “I realized I’d been circling around one of the things that has probably caused me the most fear and shame. My HIV status. I’ve lived with my status since I was 17 and it’s played with how I’ve felt towards myself and how I’ve assumed others have felt towards me, from that age and into my adult life. So quite impulsively I wrote about it in the song Hideous and thought I could release it into the world and be done with it.”
Jimmy Somerville helped Oliver Sim with Hideous. He can also be heard as a guest singer on the new single.
This is what the cover of HIDEOUS BASTARD looks like:
All three The-xx members are now (also) active solo
His band mates Jamie xx and Romy Madley Croft had done it a long time ago. At the beginning of March, The xx’s Oliver Sim also followed suit and released his first solo single “Romance With A Memory” – produced by Jamie xx. The accompanying music video featured artists and drag performers Charity Kase, HoSo Terra Toma and Gena Marvin.
Oliver Sim himself said of Romance With A Memory: “I’m thrilled, excited, ecstatic, full of endorphins and so over the moon to finally be able to share Romance With A Memory with you all. This is the first song I’ve ever released under my own name, I really hope you all enjoy it. The song was produced by my dear older brother Jamie xx.” And lest anyone have to worry that this beginning could mean the end of The xx, he adds: “PS I still have a loving and happy relationship with the band, with Romy and Jamie.”
At the beginning of April, Sim followed suit: Since then, his second solo single “Fruit” can be heard. The track is “a personal manifesto of his queer identity and self-acceptance, which he addressed to his younger self.” The accompanying video was also shot by French director Yann Gonzalez.
With his electro indie pop rock band The xx, Oliver Sim has released three (acclaimed) albums as bassist, songwriter and singer. The still current one is called I SEE YOU and was released in 2017. The xx member Jamie xx released his solo debut IN COLOR in 2015 and singer Romy Madley Croft released her debut single “Lifetime” in September 2020.
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