6 Music - Music News

The XX have confirmed reports that they are remixing US music legend Gil Scott Heron’s latest album I’m New Here.

Frontwoman Romy Madley Croft explained to 6 Music that bandmate Jamie Smith was hard at work on the project.

“I’d just like to set the record straight - the remixing side of things is very much Jamie," she said. "He’s known as Jamie XX so people just write The XX , but I can’t take credit for all the work that he does. But I have heard some of it, and it sounds brilliant.”

Last year, a remix of Florence and the Machine’s cover of You Got The Love, featuring some stunning harp and the band’s additional vocals, catapulted Jamie’s remixing talent into the spotlight.

He said: “We got to meet Gil in New York last year and that was an amazing experience, and then Richard, the head of XL, who produced the album, asked me to do it because I had just finished the Florence remix and that went down pretty well.”

"They just gave me the parts and let me do whatever I want, so I’ve been doing it on my laptop on tour."

Jamie Smith

Now, he has the honour of reworking Gil’s entire album.

“It’s a bit of a different project for me, because I have to think about the whole thing rather than one separate track," he said. "They just gave me the parts and let me do whatever I want, so I’ve been doing it on my laptop on tour.”

Jamie has been a fan of Gil Scott Heron’s since he was a child, when his art teacher introduced him to the his albums, and the poet and musician turned up to see the band play in New York, he recalls.

“He came to one of our gigs because he was going to do an impromptu song in the middle of our set, but it never happened for various reasons. But still it was really good to meet him."

However, after taking on production duties on The XX’s debut album, he says he isn’t feeling the pressure too much.

"I'm am only using his vocals, I'm not using of the original music from it, which is very freeing, especially as there is not much tones, it’s just words rather than singing. So it’s easy to fit other music around it.”