Hyper-hyped XL signing, feted by the likes of Big Boi, Drake and Beyonce, Jai Paul has just made his self-titled debut album available for streaming (or you can buy for £7) on band camp.
In an age when even My Bloody Valentine and David Bowie can release records without any prior notice, it’s not that big a deal but it certainly will have brightened up the Sundays of a lot of people waiting for new music from the enigmatic neo-soul sensation.
UPDATE – April 15: In a new turn of events, Jai Paul tweeted his first ever tweet to say that the Bandcamp release was not, in fact, his debut album: "To confirm: demos on bandcamp were not uploaded by me, this is not my debut album. Please don’t buy. Statement to follow later. Thanks, Jai". Following the tweet, the Bandcamp release was taken offline.
As Pitchfork point out, the whole thing’s got a little convoluted now: it may be that Paul had his laptop stolen, with the ‘album’ being an illegal leak of his demoes. Whatever the story, Paul is due to issue a statement, so stay tuned for more.
SECOND UPDATE – April 17: XL have now released a statement confirming that Sunday’s release was an illegal leak – have a read of what they say below:
"As widely reported, on Sunday 14th April, music by XL Recordings artist Jai Paul was illegally made available via a fake Bandcamp account. This music was not uploaded by Jai and it’s not his debut album – it is a collection of various unfinished recordings from Jai’s past.
"Neither XL or Jai will take any money from the sale of this music. We have been working with Bandcamp and PayPal to resolve this situation and they have told us all purchases will be refunded within the next 7 days."
