The xx‘s Jamie Smith has revealed that he is working on building a brand new instrument based on both an MPC sequencer and an iPad.

The producer and DJ told the Observer that he is planning on making a see-through device which will make music via “colourful graphics” and finger taps.

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The band’s vocalist Oliver Sim also explained that he has written a song for Beyonce. He said that he has written a track which isn’t right for The xx, but which he hopes Beyonce would like to record “if he can work up the courage to ask”.

Earlier this week, Sim told Q that he went for dinner with the pop legend around the time of BBC Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend in June. He said: “We all went for dinner. There may have been a husband of hers there. I always had a lot of things I wanted to say to her and I completely choked. Beyonce is very special. I think the super-pop thing that supposedly died with Michael Jackson is still there, with her. I saw her at Glastonbury and I may have shed a tear.”

The xx will release their second album, ‘Coexist’, on September 10. To launch the LP, the band play a trio of intimate UK shows. They will take to the stage at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on September 10, followed by gigs at The Coal Exchange in Cardiff on September 11 and Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on September 12. They will also play Bestival on the Isle of Wight next weekend.