As the world awaits a new album from The xx, Oliver Sim is going ahead and taking some time for his solo career. He has a new album, Hideous Bastard, on the way, which he’s offered some previews of so far via a handful of singles. Today, Sim has delivered a new one, “GMT,” an ethereal and subtly thumping tune he co-wrote with his The xx bandmate Jamie xx.
Sim told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe of the track:
“I wrote this song with Mr. Jamie xx, my brother and best friend, and one winter he kind of decided to escape English winter, which is brutal, brutal, brutal. Real months where you question life and everything. So he went off to Australia and I chased him there. And we spent a few weeks in Sydney, did a road trip down to Byron Bay, listening to music, swimming a lot… we were listening to a lot of The Beach Boys at the time. When we arrived in Byron Bay, we started ‘GMT.’ Sampling is such a personal thing. You’re not just sampling because of how beautiful it sounds, but because of all of the emotional memories you have locked into it. We had to solidify the moment. We sampled The Beach Boys and ‘GMT’ was created.”
Listen to “GMT” above. Sim also just announced tour dates for this fall, so find those below.
09/29 — Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
10/01 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
10/02 — San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
10/05 — Chicago, IL @ Metro
10/06 — Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix Concert Theatre
10/08 — Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre
10/09 — Boston, MA @ Royale
10/10 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
10/11 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
10/20 — Copenhagen, DK @ Vega
10/22 — Paris, FR @ Le Cabaret Sauvage
10/23 — Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
10/24 — Brussels, BE @ Cirque Royal
10/26 — Berlin, DE @ Admiralspalast
10/27 — Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefaehrlich
10/29 — Manchester, UK @ New Century Hall
10/30 — London, UK @ KOKO
Hideous Bastard is out 9/9 via Young. Pre-order it here.
