Oliver Sim, one-third of English indie band The xx, will be releasing his debut studio LP this fall. Entitled Hideous Bastard, the10-track project grapples with themes of fear, shame and masculinity, particularly Sim’s experience of living with HIV since he was a teenager.
On the first single off of the forthcoming album, “Hideous,” Sim directly addresses his HIV-positive status, singing about how “radical honesty may set [him] free.”
“Two thirds in, having a good idea of what the record was about, I realized I’d been circling around one of the things that has probably caused me the most fear and shame,” Sim wrote in a letter to fans posted on Instagram. “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.”
Discussing the process of the lead track, Sim recalled playing the song for his mom, who advised that he have conversations with both those he hadn’t told about his status and those that knew but to which he hadn’t wanted to speak 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,” Sim wrote.
He went on to discuss being inspired by Scottish pop singer Jimmy Somerville, a prominent voice in HIV/AIDs activism. In an accompanying music video for “Hideous,” Somerville appears alongside Sim to sing to him the lyrics.
Sim also said that while the album is separate from The xx, it was entirely produced by his bandmates Jamie xx and Romy Madley Croft.
Oliver Sim’s debut studio album Hideous Bastard is out on September 9.
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