The xx’s Oliver Sim has announced his debut solo album, Hideous Bastard, which will be out September 9 via Young.
The album includes previous singles “Fruit” and “Romance with a Memory,” and has just shared a third single, the lush, string-laden “Hideous,” which was produced by his xx bandmate, Jamie xx, and features Bronski Beat and Communards cofounder Jimmy Somerville. He’s also shared its striking video, by director Yann Gonzalez, that just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
In a statement about the album and single, Sim revealed that he’s been HIV positive since he was 17. “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: my HIV status,” Sim writes.
“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.”