Jamie XX, that prodigious British producer and beatmaker your pals won't stop talking about, has continued his pattern of surprise single drops at opportune moments. Pulling through Jon Hopkins's BBC Radio 1 residency program, the young producer offered up "Alba," a stunningly beautiful track that drifts through misty synthesizers and unfurling vocal loops. Gradually a low heartbeat kick drum enters, and over the course of "Alba"'s brief two minutes a perfect mood of starry contemplation rises, before gently wafting away. The new single recalls strains of Dev Hynes's work in its subtle saxophone lines, but is still unquestionably an organic Jamie XX production, capturing the same forlorn beauty that saturated past cuts like "Sleep Sound" and "Girl."
Word has been circulating for some time that Jamie will be dropping a proper full-length album of his own material, but no hard evidence has emerged indicating a release date or tracklist.
However, Jamie XX will indeed release "Alba" as part of a special Record Store Day release on April 18th as a part of his upcoming Continuum project, but you can hear it now on the recording of Hopkins's residency show. Listen here, starting at roughly the 58:00 mark in the broadcast.
Update: Watch a video for the complete version of "Alba" over at Nowness.
