Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim met in the sandpit. Two tots who looked the same and grew up in south-west London. "Romy knows everything there is to know about me," says her bosom friend. The two attended the same elementary school and then the arts-focused Elliott School, which has produced electro acts such as Burial and Hot Chip.
Sim got his first bass for his 14th birthday, Croft taught herself to play the guitar. Shy as they both still are today, they didn't tell each other about their musical activities for a long time. Until they realized how well their voices harmonized. Her fragile, high, his soulful, sonorous. "We learned to speak together," says Croft. "Maybe that's why our voices go so well together."
Even soul mates have to make an effort together
Croft and Sim had their first gig when they were 16. Another playground friend was in the audience: Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie XX, who is now one of the hottest DJs in the world. He began to add electronic beats to the songs and soon became a permanent fixture. In 2010, the three won the prestigious Mercury Prize music award. From then on, their career took off. In their private lives, the three grew increasingly apart and soon only pursued their solo careers. Sim worked as a model for the Dior brand and had to go into drug rehab.
To prevent them from breaking up as a band, they began to actively cultivate their friendship, which they had taken a little too much for granted. Jamie Smith: "We spend so much time together, you just have to make a bit of an effort."
This article first appeared in Sonntagsblick magazine.
THE XX
August 25, 2017, Zurich Openair
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