Jamie xx never runs out of ways to find music in silence, does he? The xx-man’s main band demonstrated their mastery of negative space on 2012’s Coexist and their self-titled 2009 debut. Last month’s run of 40-person New York concerts showed how their atmospheric sounds can work even better when fewer people are hearing them. New solo single “Sleep Sound,” out May 6 via Young Turks, (pre -order on iTunes or 12-inch vinyl now) is another bold stroke of evanescence; we called it a “spongy, 2-step-meets-doo-wop jam.”
The track’s novel video makes the connection to silence more literal. Directed by Sofia Mattioli, a London-based artist and poet, the clip shows 13 members of the Manchester (U.K.) Deaf Centre — ages 5 to 27 — dancing in response to both Mattioli’s movements and the music’s vibrations in the air. “The relationship between silence and music is a big part of what I am trying to express with my work,” Mattiolio told Nowness. Jamie xx couldn’t have said it better himself. Here’s to knowing what’s golden.
Read SPIN’s 2012 profile on the xx: Black Is Black Is Black Is Black.
