Oliver Sim (fra The xx) annoncerer debutalbummet Hideous Bastard – ude d. 9. september
I dag løfter Oliver Sim – bedst kendt for sit arbejde som sangskriver, bassist og sanger i The xx – sløret for sit kommende debutalbum Hideous Bastard, der udkommer d. 9. september på Young / Playground Music. Hideous Bastard, der er produceret af The xx-bandmedlemmet – og Olivers gode ven – Jamie xx, er kulminationen på to års sangskrivning og indspilning. Albummet er inspireret af Oliver Sims kærlighed til gyserfilm og af Sims egne livserfaringer med tunge temaer som skam, frygt og maskulinitet.
Disse temaer står utvetydigt frem på den nye single ’Hideous’, hvor Oliver Sim har fået hjælp af sin personlige helt og ”skytsengel” Jimmy Somerville på gæstevokal. Singlen sætter scenen for det kommende album, og markerer samtidig første gang, at Oliver Sim taler åbent om at have levet med HIV siden han var 17 år.
’Hideous’ kommer med en video lavet i samarbejde med en anden af Sims personlige helte, den franske instruktør Yann Gonzalez, der også har arbejdet med Sim på en kommende queer gyser-kortfilm af samme navn. Filmen var udvalgt til og havde premiere i går som en del af Semaine de la Critique på dette års Cannes Film Festival.
Om singlen fortæller Oliver Sim:
Early on in the making of my record, Hideous Bastard, I realised that I was writing a lot about fear and shame.
I imagine that might paint a picture of a dark, “woe is me” sounding album, but in recent years I’ve become a firm believer that the best antidote to these feelings can be bringing them to the surface and shedding some light on them.
I haven’t written the record to dwell, but rather to free myself of some of the shame and fear that I’ve felt for a long time. So, I hear a lot of the music as joyous, because the experience of writing and recording it has been the complete opposite of what fear and shame have been for me.
Two thirds in, having a good idea of what the record was about, I realised I’d been circling around one of the things that has probably caused me the most fear and shame. My HIV status. I’ve been living with HIV 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 on a song called Hideous. I thought I could release it into the world and be done with it. After playing the song to my mum, being the protective and wise mum that she is, she gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever received. She suggested that I spend some time having conversations with people in my life first. Either people I hadn’t told yet, or people I had told but hadn’t wanted to talk much further on it. Since writing Hideous, I’ve spent the past two years having those conversations, which was difficult and uncomfortable to start with, but has allowed me to feel a lot freer and has only strengthened my relationship with myself and with the people in my life.
One of the most special relationships I’ve gained from this has been with Mr Jimmy Somerville. I knew for Hideous I wanted a guardian angel to appear in the song and sing to me the words I needed to hear. Not only has Jimmy been such a powerful voice around HIV & AIDS for decades, but the man quite literally sounds like an angel. I reached out to him as a complete fan boy, but now consider him a real good friend. He encouraged me to do the song for myself. He taught me “glamour” is a Scottish word. And, most importantly, he reminded me to not take myself too seriously, no good comes from that!
“Am I Hideous?” feels far less like a question I’m asking the world now. I know the answer. As scary as it still feels, I’m excited to share this music with you, and I hope you enjoy it. Lots of love, Oliver xx
Se videoen til ’Hideous’ her.
1. Hideous
2. Romance with a Memory
3. Sensitive Child
4. Never Here
5. Unreliable Narrator
6. Saccharine
7. Confident Man
8. GMT
9. Fruit
10. Run The Credits