TOWARDS THE END of the summer of 2020, the UK was in somewhat of a nether zone. The first peak of the Covid pandemic had passed and the long and languid final days of summer brought with them a restlessness and a desire to connect once more, despite government advice to continue to isolate. During this period, illegal rave culture returned to both London and the rest of the country, spawning a morally dubious but undoubtedly exciting underground movement.
Each weekend during this time, Jamie Smith would cycle down the River Thames and pop his head into whichever mini raves he stumbled upon. Barges, riverbanks, marshes, forests and more all hosted ramshackle events after six months of total seclusion, bringing little sparks of life back to a numb and frazzled youth. "Those things have happened before, but it hadn't felt like such a scene," Smith - who has become one of the defining British dance producers of the 21st century as Jamie xx - tells Rolling Stone UK from his Soho studio, a stone's throw away from the site of these parties four years ago. "It was really special to see human beings really wanting to be around each other again." The music was "mostly terrible," he laughs, "but it was a lovely, heartwarming, inspiring thing to be around."
Though you would ordinarily expect a pandemic to stifle the creativity and spark of a dance producer and DJ, Covid provided the jolt Smith needed to re-engage with his love of music and escape a rut that had plagued him for the previous few years. After he returned home from the tour behind The xx's third album, 2017's I See You, Smith believed he had his second solo album all mapped out. "I made loads of music of what I thought I wanted [the album] to be like and it was just really boring," he reflects. "I liked it, but it didn't seem like there was any reason for other people to hear it. It took me a while after that to figure out where to go next."
Bu hikaye Rolling Stone UK dergisinin October/November 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Rolling Stone UK dergisinin October/November 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
BACK TO THE GRIND
The Clipse broke up when a spiritual path called to one of the brothers from Virginia. Now, one of the greatest duos in rap returns
THE SCREAM QUEEN NEXT DOOR
In just a few short years, Hunter Schafer has gone from small-town North Carolina to global runways, Euphoria stardom, and her first lead role, in the horror flick Cuckoo
Together in Electronic Dreams
Raphaella Lima of video game publisher Electronic Arts brings music to her childhood love of gaming to spotlight many of the most exciting emerging acts of the past two decades in the hit football game EA SPORTS FC
JAMIE XX WAVE AFTER WAVE
Nine years after his decade-defining debut album In Colour, Jamie xx returns with In Waves, a darker and broodier follow-up that saw him fall back in love with making music
"You can feel trapped when people perceive you as one thing"
On their career-best fourth album, Fontaines D.C. have shed their skin of old to deliver something more fantastical. Grian Chatten tells us the story behind their evolution
IN COMPLETE CONFIDENCE
Confidence Man's Janet Planet and Sugar Bones go bigger and wilder than ever before on 3AM (LA LA LA), an album made about partying, while partying, and perfect for partying to
Collective consciousness
Ezra Collective return with Dance, No One's Watching, the roaring follow-up album to last year's boundary-moving Mercury Prize win
DAYDREAM BELIEVER
Welsh techno-pop artist Kelly Lee Owens is the first signing to Dirty Hit's new dance label, dh2. She talks \"transcending my bullshit\" on the euphoric, thumping club tunes of fourth album, Dreamstate
A BUNCH OF (PRI)MATES
From the story of 'Gary', the title track of Stockport band Blossoms' fifth album inspired by a fibreglass gorilla, to breaking new ground with their own record label and staying friends after 10 years, the tightknit band tell Rolling Stone UK all about it
RULE OF LAWTEY
Stepping up to play a comic-book icon in the big-budget sequel Joker: Folie à Deux could prove a life-changing moment for Industry star Harry Lawtey. But he's trying not to think about it...