Song of The Day: Jamie XX feat. Romy “Loud Places”

Save for last year’s “Girl”/”Sleep Sound” single, Jamie Smith (aka Jamie xx) has kept quiet lately. [Then again, The xx have always been about carefully-maintained quiet spaces.] Smith’s last major (read: non-single) solo undertaking was his rework of jazz and soul legend Gil Scott Heron’s 2011 album I’m New Here (re-titled We’re New Here). Some four years later, we find that Smith has indeed kept busy. He’s gearing up to release his debut full length, In Colour, on June 1st on his long-time label, the London-based Young Turks.

Lead single, “Loud Places,” features XX bandmate, lead singer Romy Madley Croft. The dynamic shifts between Croft’s quiet singing and the gospel choir hook is in nearly perfect synergy with the lyrics. Croft’s whispered pleas to Smith about finding a quiet place is answered with a literal chorus that almost sounds like a sample, echoing her sentiment in a bombastic way. The disconnect becomes apparent in the end when she says “You’re in ecstasy, without me/When you come down, I won’t be around.”