“I’m ugly,” Oliver Sim purrs within the opening line of his debut solo album ‘Hideous Bastard’. It’s hanging, however nothing in comparison with what comes subsequent on ‘Hideous’. “Caught my reflection in your eye / Now you’ve seen me from either side / Am I hideous?” he questions shortly afterwards, earlier than dropping the bombshell revelation in a courageous couplet: “Radical honesty would possibly set me free if it makes me hideous / Been residing with HIV since 17 – am I hideous?”
Though the monitor represents the primary time The xx singer and bassist has shared his analysis with the virus – and initially does so in crushing, darkish tones – this Jamie xx-produced album isn’t a tell-all nor self-flagellation for self-flagellation’s sake. As a substitute, Sim makes use of the music to course of the way in which it’s colored his life and try to liberate himself from not less than a few of the shackles of the illness.
The outcomes are lovely, transferring and – no matter material – brilliantly creative. On ‘Romance With A Reminiscence’, the music that sparked the remainder of the report, the artist explores his longing to “really feel good-looking” and the way he’s used companions to not discover love however to fulfil wants.
The hovering ‘Fruit’ strikes into familial territory (“Have I made you proud? Check out me now / If I’ve obtained my father’s eyes; I’ve obtained my mom’s smile”), whereas ‘‘Run The Credit’ positions its creator as a “psycho killer in a romantic comedy” and rejecting “the lie of the teenage dream” perpetuated by Hollywood. “Run the credit, allow them to rain on me / Even Romeo dies within the last scene,” Sim urges within the refrain. It’s a darkly humorous nod to the truth that irrespective of the hand life offers us, we’ll all meet the identical finish finally.
Simply as ‘Hideous Bastard’’s lyrics don’t wallow, neither does the music that accompanies them. There are brooding, ominous sounds, sure, however they surge with urgency. ‘Delicate Youngster’ takes splashy, reverb-soaked drums and driving, darkish guitar licks and melds them with a needling piano line and crisp synth drones, whereas ‘By no means Right here’ crafts an eerie environment with glitches and a wafting, melancholy melody, earlier than including lighter layers; it’s the closest the album veers toThe xx.
Earlier than teaming up with Jamie xx on ‘Romance With A Reminiscence’, Sim had no intention of constructing a solo album. Thank goodness his good friend persuaded him, or we’d be robbed of this totally majestic and sumptuous report.
Particulars
Label: Younger
Launch date: September 9
