Though best known for work with pop and indielectronica band The xx, member Jamie xx has also garnered success as a solo artist in the past decade. Most notably, Jamie’s UK Bass debut In Colours (2015) amassed great commercial success and critical appeal. Track nine, a collaboration with Young Thug titled “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” even became one of that year’s most popular pop-rap songs. Yet on his latest record In Waves, Jamie switches gears and hits the club, expanding the ‘dance’ sound he had only scratched the surface of years prior.
Jamie xx’s new work builds upon the foundation of In Colours’ exploration of ambient, meditative deep house. However this time, Jamie hastens the tempo, strengthens the groove, and improves the overall vibes on In Waves. Because the soloist fully embraces a new, upbeat realm of house music, the outcome is his best work to date. Songs like “Baddy on the Floor,” “Life,” and “Treat Each Other Right” are irresistibly catchy and dynamic. Each track progressively adds and removes engaging elements, resulting in satisfying song endings and total listener engagement, making it impossible not to stream on repeat. Evident in my favorite hook, as heard on “Waited All Night,” Jamie xx constantly gives the audience fun details capable of getting stuck in your head. Though lyrically In Waves does not provide incredibly substantive content, it does not need to; the simplicity of each song is key to that addictive, loopable quality.
The record is an elevated listening experience for its featured outstanding guest vocalists. Former bandmates Romy and Oliver Sim deliver alongside Kelsey Lu, Robyn, and Oona Doherty. Jamie xx also centers collaboration with a handful of electronic artists, such as Grammy-winning DJ Honey Dijon, the one-and-only Panda Bear from Animal Collective, and plunderphonics legends The Avalanches. The synergy between Jamie xx and each of these artists provides incredible sonic diversity and endless dope sampling work. Because of this, feature-heavy songs like “Dafodil” and “All You Children” create some of the most memorable moments on the record: their sonorous atmospheres are both fragmented and coalescent with the interweaving of various hand-picked samples.
Still, what really makes this album special is the emotional depth and variability that Jamie xx showcases. Many of the songs on the record have an element of melancholy. This juxtaposition against the endless energy of the dance elements creates something beautifully heartfelt and kickass. The gentle piano, enveloping strings, and classic UK Garage sample on the intro track “Wanna” kick off the album with a love letter to a lost feeling conveyed through the desire to find answers in dance. “The Feeling I Get From You” further plunges into this well of emotion as one of the most intimate songs on the record. With its gorgeous build of piano arpeggios and classic house rhythms mixed in beside a sample of “Moonlight” by the Apple & the Three Oranges, the listener is enraptured by Jamie’s soundtrack of ‘longing for a perfect night.’
“Breather” is a philosophical experience, as Jamie xx flips a yoga video into a vocal that becomes like an inspirational message from a distant future. The journey of the song through its auditory phases corresponds to the evolution of an abstract message conveyed by Jamie xx: live in the present moment because it is the only one that truly exists. Jamie xx then wraps up the album with the transcendental “Falling Together,” a score for hitting the dance floor to escape drowning in a sea of thoughts. Thus emerges a precious comfort promised by Jamie xx, resulting in yet another sincere message: we are all insignificant, but that is okay.
All together, In Waves is a journey. Each track — not through lyrics, but through song — cements Jamie xx’s wholesome messaging about finding solace in our shared loneliness. This album may not be the next revolutionary electronic music work, but Jamie xx created something that will definitely stand the test of time. The record explores what electronic music can be, by simultaneously being conventional and envelope-pushing. Ultimately, with In Waves, Jamie gives us a record that is complex, passionate, and most of all human.
Featured album image from In Waves – Jamie xx on Spotify.
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