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It’s been a long time since Jamie xx last released a solo album. In Colour, his last full EP, came in 2015 and was a dopamine rush of sample-heavy dancefloor bangers, combining euphoric beats with a sense of melancholy sadness that came through best in tracks like Stranger in a Room.
But then Covid hit, leaving him stranded with ample time to work on new music. And how fortunate that he has, because In Waves is a successor that is well worth the nine year wait: a clarion call to get back on the dancefloor and into our feelings.
So it’s a pandemic album, but coming almost two years after restrictions have lifted, it’s also one that Jamie xx has clearly spent a lot of time perfecting.
Each track has its own distinct identity, veering from vogue to disco by way of 70s gospel. It gives the whole album the feeling of a Jackson Pollock splatter painting. It’s darker, slower and more thoughtful than its predecessor – throbbing beats are punctuated by moments of intense anxiety, such as the dark and brooding Breather, which was inspired by online yoga lessons he did during the pandemic.
But so do moments of intense joy and wonder. The album benefits from a staggering amount of musical talent: The xx bandmates Romy and Oliver provide vocals on the dreamy Waited All Night (a garage-flavoured tribute to a hazy night out). Robyn pops up on the strutting disco track Life and the bouncy Honey Dijon collab Baddy on the Floor provides arguably the most club-friendly material on the entire album.
Lyrics also feature heavily here in a way they haven't on previous material. Dafodil samples I Just Make Believe (I’m Touching You) by the late R&B star JJ Barnes before segueing into a hazy, sultry beat-driven melody; similarly, Treat Each Other Right takes vocals from Almeta Lattimore’s Oh My Love and injects them with a touch of dancefloor energy.
And the closing song, Falling Together, features a spoken-word performance from the Belfast-based Oona Doherty. Originally a 25-minute long voice note, it was shortened and cut together with a track he was having trouble finishing, and her impassioned words about love and connection gives the end result flavours of fellow electronic artist Fred again.
A more complex listen than In Colour, In Waves is a pulsing, propulsive beast: a cry for reconnection fashioned during a time when the world seemed depressingly absent of it.
“With all this vastness, there’s no hint that help will come to save us from ourselves. So yeah, I will have a double,” Doherty declares in the closing track. And so will we.
