XL boss on Jai Paul: “I don’t know what he’ll do next”

XL Recordings boss Richard Russell has spoken openly about Jai Paul’s future plans for the first time, saying “I don’t know what he’ll do next” with regards to future releases.

In an interview with Pitchfork, he discusses the time he first met the elusive Londoner (on his 40th birthday) as well as speaking about his admiration of the artist. “He is clearly a wizard in doing something that could only be done by him. He makes it sound quite effortless, but, as another producer put it to me recently: How does he do that?,” he said. “There’s so much charm to the music, and it’s so melodic, as well as sounding like pirate radio. That’s not easy to do .”

Signed on the back of his ‘BTSTU’ demo, Jai Paul has only since released ‘Jasmine’. Last year, a batch of demos was leaked by an unknown hacker, with sixteen tracks being uploaded online. Jai Paul swiftly responded by stating that these weren’t the final versions, and the majority of purchasers on Bandcamp were refunded.

“He hasn’t put an album out, but what he has put out has had an enormous impact on people,” said Russell in the same interview. “He’s an artist who’s doing something totally different to anyone else and hasn’t seen fit to release material in the traditional way that the music business is used to. It doesn’t really bother me that much. People should enjoy what is there.”

XL is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the ‘Pay Close Attention’ compilation, out now.