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FEATURE MUSIC

“I think [Robyn creates] probably the ultimate example of euphoria and devastating sadness in one song,” she continues. “I’ve never seen that more perfectly represented than when you have a whole room of people, really in their feelings screaming those lyrics, as well as jumping. I think I’ve always loved quite introspective and deep songwriting. I think when you combine a song that is lyrically very touching with some music that really lifts your energy and puts you into a different state, it’s kind of ticking both boxes for me.” Mid Air communicates two primary things: You don't have to be forceful to have fortitude, and your community will be your life buoy. “I think the intention of just allowing a person to be, is what queer clubbing has given to me, and what I’ve watched it give to other people,” she explains. “No matter what you’ve been through that day to get to that space, to walk in the door and let down those inhibitions and that guard, and just be yourself... I’ve watched that and I’ve felt that, and I think that I understand the importance of it." Romy didn't initially set out one-eyed to write a solo album. “With this whole project, I started off by songwriting for other people; that was kind of my stepping stone into getting my confidence up to write for myself,” she says. It was in these songwriting-for-other-people sessions that she met Fred Gibson, AKA Fred again.., who co-produced much of Mid Air with Romy's The xx bandmate Jamie xx. “Fred and I met before he’d released any solo music – so this is about 2018 – and we were just paired together to write songs for other people," Romy says. "It was just a fun challenge for me to just try and learn. I’m just a curious person, I just wanted to see how pop songs were made. Fred and I instantly became really close..."

Mid Air by Romy is out Sep 8 via Young/ Remote Control.

The intention of just allowing a person to be, is what queer clubbing has given to me

INTERVIEW

DANCING ON AIR Named for the moments we're tugged out of our own anxious fog and back into the miraculous present, the debut album from Romy (one third of UK indie-electronica royaltyThe xx) is a work of expansive, thrumming beauty which celebrates the music scene that became Romy's home. We spoke to the singer-songwriter about Mid Air. Words Zoë Radas

T he first time we hear Romy Madley Loveher – she's making a quiet request. “Can you turn it up a bit more?” she murmurs, atop a minimal electronic beat and wistful piano garnish. “Thank you,” she says a moment later, and this time it really is a whisper. Romy's voice is soft all the way through her debut album Mid Air , and her messages are gentle and hopeful, even as beats thump and Croft's voice on her debut solo album – just a few seconds into gorgeous single

pulse around her. Fragility and dance music make a potent marriage; just ask Robyn and her legions of fans. “I think that is something that Robyn has definitely managed to pour into her music so perfectly,” Romy says of the Swedish artist. (It was Robyn who introduced Romy to the music of Beverly Glenn-Copeland, a sample of whose track La Vita appears in Mid Air single Enjoy Your Life .)

Continue reading the full article online at jbhifi.com.au/stack

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