After nine long years, Jamie xx, a.k.a. Jamie Smith, is back to hold our feet to the dance floor with his sophomore release In Waves. To paraphrase Robyn, it's giving heart; it's giving supernatural; it's giving life.
The UK artist, known equally for his solo efforts as for his contributions as one-third of the xx, delivers a mighty follow-up to 2015's In Colour that will no doubt be rocking clubs well into the new year. Created during the pandemic amid various lockdowns, the album provided the space for Smith to slow down, erase the ennui and find his creative spark again. "It's been a while… and a lot has happened in that time," reads his post from June announcing the album. "Ups and downs, growing up, figuring stuff out and then forgetting it all many times over. Life-changing events and world-changing events. These waves that we have all experienced together and alone. I wanted to make something fun, joyful and introspective all at once."
Smith has always had his finger on the pulse; a singular talent who reflects the authenticity and enduring connectivity of dance music. In the same way that contemporaries Four Tet and Floating Points continue to raise the bar through creative collaborations and inspired production, Smith is a modern ambassador for UK electronic music. Though Smith likely wouldn't like such aggrandizements; He's happiest on the dance floor, face-to-face with people enjoying the moment. It's partly why he launched his own residency and pop-up club, The Floor, in London, New York, L.A., etc. with guests like Charli xcx, Daphni, Axel Boman, DJ Python, among others.
Bringing people together, whether behind the scenes or in front of the mic, is a longstanding talent of Smith's. The pop acumen of Robyn shines on "Life," while Kelsey Lu is impossibly sultry on "Dafodil" and, of course, it wouldn't be a Jamie xx album without the appearance of bandmates Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim on "Waited All Night." In Waves is also the first time Smith's invited other producers to jump on tracks, including Animal Collective's Panda Bear ("Dafodil"), Honey Dijon ("Baddy on the Floor") and the Avalanches ("All You Children" and "Every Single Weekend"). It introduces new energy to his music and the album is richer for it.
Where In Colour found safety in subtlety, In Waves crashes with bombastic energy. The pace is both breakneck ("Breather") and languid ("Still Summer"), and from the opening wail and foghorn of "Wanna," the tone is set. The use of spoken word is notable, lending a distinctly poetic and lyrical lens to the album. On the closer, Irish choreographer Oona Doherty delivers a hypnotic, philosophical diatribe describing a dancer overtop of a sparse drumbeat: "Look again at that dot… there's a whole world in that dancer, a microcosm of everyone you love, everyone you know, every human being who ever was." The track is a slow-burning call to collectivism and an appropriate endnote to the vision of In Waves. After years of isolation, we find strength in numbers and our shared humanity.
In Waves is really an album that begs to be felt in the body. It is escapism at its finest; a way to simultaneously disconnect and reconnect with your physical surroundings. Its infectious beats, breaks and bass resonates deeper in your bones with each spin and solidifies the album as one of this year's best dance records. Filled with choice samples that scintillate like a twirling disco ball, Smith masterfully pulls back the curtain on his wizardly skills behind the decks and in the studio. Nearly a decade on, Jamie xx proves he still has the X factor. It was worth the wait.