There’s no question of Romy’s mastery of electronic music on her new album, Mid Air. For the producer and DJ, who is also one-third of The xx, the project was a long time coming, given that she co-founded the group nearly two decades ago while in high school.
Flash forward 20 years or so, and Mid Air is a dance album for the contemporary age. Largely inspired by queer club culture, the LP is at once intimate, lively, fresh and surprising.
Romy collaborated with heavyweights such as Fred again.. and producer Stuart Price. Among her musical influences in the making of Mid Air – and what ultimately led to her linking with Price – was the genre-defining album, Madonna’s Confessions on a Dance Floor. For visuals, Romy predominantly worked with her wife, photographer and director Vic Lentaigne.
“The music I first heard when I went to queer clubs as a teenager is a huge inspiration for this album: big, bold emotional pop dance songs. In that queer space, pop was being appreciated and celebrated without any cynicism and irony,” Romy told Hypebeast in an interview last month.
“This is something I really still connect to now. Lyrically, it was important to me to be open and honest about my relationship without any shame. When I was writing I was thinking about myself as a teenager and how much it meant to me when I felt lyrically represented in music, which didn’t happen that often. Hopefully the songs can provide more representation and visibility and another queer storyline for other queer people to connect to.”
Stream Romy’s new album Mid Air everywhere now.
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