If your exposure to Jamie xx was largely via the band who gave him his pseudonym, his debut solo album might have come as a shock. You doubtless knew he had a parallel career as a DJ and dance producer, but even so, the mood of 2015’s In Colour was at odds with that reliably conjured by the xx.
Where the band of childhood friends almost always sound understated, introspective and dimly-lit – music that, metaphorically speaking, has the curtains closed – In Colour felt like someone throwing open the windows, or winding them down in a car with a powerful sound system: a celebration of London’s dance history that took in breakbeats and Belfast by Orbital, two-step garage rhythms and jungle MCs. It wasn’t without its moments of melancholy – it frequently seemed to be celebrating a past its author was too young to have experienced first-hand – but its overall mood was as vibrant as the colour wheel on its cover.
