Hideous Bastard, the debut album from Oliver Sim—best known for his work as songwriter, bassist,and vocalist of The xx—is set for release on September 9th via Young. Produced by bandmate Jamie xx, Hideous Bastard is the culmination of two years of writing and recording, inspired by Sim’s love of horror movies and his own life experience, unpacking themes of shame, fear, and masculinity. These themes are front and centre on new single “Hideous”. Enlisting the help of lifelong hero and “guardian angel”Jimmy Somerville on guest vocals, the single sets the scene for the forthcoming album and sees Sim speaking publicly for the first time that he’s been living with HIV since the age of seventeen. It debuts with a video by another personal hero, French director Yann Gonzalez, who has also collaborated with Sim on a forthcoming queer horror short film of the same name that premiered yesterday as part of the Semaine de la Critiqueat the Cannes Film Festival.

The solo debut from the xx vocalist is a quiet work of personal exploration. Rife with growing pains, it occasionally hints at real beauty.

Lakeshore Records has released a new version of the song Fruit by Oliver Sim from the film adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s best-selling novel Red, White & Royal Blue. The track (co-written by Sim, Jamie xx & Alex Peringer) is produced by Casey MQ & Nathan Jenkins and is now available to stream/download on all major digital music services, including Amazon. Also listen to the full song below. As previously reported, a first song from the movie (If I Loved You) was released last week and a full soundtrack album featuring both songs and Drum & Lace’s original score from the movie will be coming out next week. Red, White & Royal Blue is co-written and directed by Matthew López and stars Nicholas Galitzine, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Uma Thurman, Clifton Collins Jr., Sarah Shahi and Stephen Fry. The romantic comedy will premiere on August exclusively on Prime Video.