Romy – ‘Mid Air’ review: extraordinary, winning songs from The xx vocalist

6 September, 2023

romy

Romy‘s debut solo album arrives nearly three years after ‘Lifetime’, a euphoric single that signposted its club-ready direction, but which doesn’t make the final cut now. Sometimes this kind of lengthy gestation suggests creative tentativeness or even confusion, but ‘Mid Air’ bears no trace of a wobble. Conceived as a “love letter” to the queer clubs where London-born Romy blossomed as a teenager, it’s a nostalgic but box-fresh dance album that taps into a deep well of feeling.

Romy – best known as co-vocalist and guitarist with influential band The xx – clearly understands that seemingly simple lyrics can sound utterly profound in the context of a throbbing dance song. Working with in-demand electronic producer Fred Again, Madonna collaborator Stuart Price and her bandmate Jamie xx, she’s made an album of sleek trance bangers that hit the target melodically and emotionally. When she sings “you don’t have to be so strong” on the pulsating ‘Strong’, it feels both cathartic and uplifting.

‘Enjoy Your Life’, a life-affirming house tune that would slot comfortably on a playlist next to Shapeshifters’ joyful classic ‘Lola’s Theme’, has Romy and singer-songwriter Beverley Glenn-Copeland repeating the mantra-like line “my mother says to me, ‘enjoy your life’.” It’s a beautifully utilised sample from Glenn-Copeland’s song ‘La Vita’, and becomes even more moving when you factor in Romy’s personal history – her own mother passed away when she was 11.

Though a sense of grief and release permeates the album’s emotive beats and crystalline vocals, ‘Mid Air’ also celebrates the singer’s loving relationship with photographer and director Vic Lentaigne, whom she married in 2021. “Hold my hand under the table,” Romy sings on the swirling ‘Loveher’. “It’s not that I’m not proud in the company of strangers – it’s just some things are for us.” Given that Romy, like all queer people, knows that holding hands can sometimes be the only safe option, it’s a lyric that works on several levels. Another touching moment comes on ‘Weightless’, when Romy sings tenderly: “I was at a party and she was at home / All I really wanted was to be with her alone.”

Because Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding have recently returned trance to the top of the charts with their summer anthem ‘Miracle’, ‘Mid Air’ feels timely as well as satisfying. From the Balearic glide of ‘The Sea’ to the thumping climax of ‘Did I’, which recreates the feeling of 3am at a sweaty Greek island club, it’s the work of an artist with a sincere appreciation for dance music and the skills to make her own galvanising bangers. Many of these songs will give you a prick of emotion at the back of your eyes – a sure sign that Romy really appreciates the healing power of a packed club floor.