In the shockwave of 2015 debut solo album In Colour, Jamie xx appeared to drop an era-defining, industry-levelling grenade of an electronic album, tour it all over the world, and then promptly disappear off the face of the earth, leaving fans desperately awaiting a follow-up for nigh on a decade, with little beyond a dribble of one-off singles to satiate in its fallout. The invisible process that actually took place was truer to the reserved and pensive producer's character.
"We went on tour. I went on tour on my own, I went on tour with the band, made the band's album [the xx's I See You]. … Workwise, that was just constant. And in between all that stuff, I was making this album," the artist born James Thomas Smith tells Exclaim! from London. "Then, I think a lot changed. And I was able to stop for a second and take control of my own life a little bit more, which was the biggest thing that's happened in the last nine years."
To say a lot has happened since 2015 would be the understatement of the century; political upheaval, climate disaster and global societal standstill are among the hallmarks of the period between now and the relatively simpler 2010s. And given the solitude of lockdowns, Smith's sophomore return — In Waves, out September 20 via Young — never strayed too far from his focus, even after coming back into the world, collaborating with peers, and working with his bandmates alongside and on their respective solo albums.
"It's been such a long time making it," he explains, "It's the longest I've ever worked on making an album sound whole."
He continues, "I always put a lot of effort into making it feel like an album, because I think that's very important. But especially in this day and age — when a lot of people are releasing albums that are way too long, with way too many tracks, and the way that we listen to music isn't necessarily album-centric — I wanted it to make sense as an album and for people to want to listen to it like that."
That said, individually, the record's euphoric singles seem genetically engineered to greet sunrise from the night before, particularly with so many big-name features in supply. Titans in their own right, fellow xx-ers Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim, as well as Animal Collective's Panda Bear, the Avalanches and the one and only Robyn (on third single "Life"), contribute to the seamless tracklist, which expectedly also spotlights Smith's masterful sampling and profound production style. It's an album that puts fun at the forefront, and it's apparent that his era of experimentation in DJ booths and on festival stages has been a huge influence.
Smith concedes that while In Colour and In Waves are both "quite inward," he found momentum by "playing these tracks out or collaborating with people and opening up my world a little bit," and absorbing crowd feedback in real time. He's been spending his summer doing just that with an intercontinental collaborative club residency called "the Floor" that has thus far featured Charli XCX, Canada's own Caribou (billed as the more dance-attuned Daphni), Four Tet and others, each riding the highs of their own new material.
A handful of lucky Toronto fans were able to get a salty morsel of Smith's sweat-logged live set last summer when he headlined the city's modest 500-something capacity club Coda, bringing local darlings BAMBII (then fresh off her debut album Infinity Club) and REDLINERS along for the ride. Smith confirms that a North American tour behind In Waves is in the works, but this time around, he's going to "do it big."
Nevertheless, "Those small clubs are the reason why I fell in love with dance music," he confesses, the xx having cut their teeth in teensy locales of their own in the 2000s. "I think I'm quite lucky in that I get to bridge the gap between doing both things. They both take a different set of skills, and they're rewarding in different ways, big and small. So whenever I get the chance to do it, I want to do it."
More than once, I've seen Jamie xx's sound described as club music for late-stage capitalism. Though he refuses to get into the comments section himself, he says he hopes that fans experience his work as "an antidote for how depressing the world is." Wherever In Waves ends up on the spectrum from eulogizing humanity on celestial radio waves to becoming the impetus for its salvation remains in flux. In the meantime, it will be an escapist soundtrack at worst — and at best, a force for unity among the dance floor-inclined.