Album Reviews |

Jamie xx

In Colours 6 ( 2015 )
Gosh / Sleep Sound / SeeSaw / Obvs / Just Saying / Stranger in a Room / Hold Tight / Loud Places / I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times) / The Rest Is Noise / Girl

Born when I was already 14 years old, Jamie xx probably isn't for me - except some of his techniques scream out 1988 house music - which was at the time I was certainly the right age to receive such music. Wanting to absolutely despise this record then, because I've met plenty of bedroom DJs - it is something of a surprise when 'Gosh' develops from novelty to something resembling art - the sounds suddenly become 1982 but mixed with a modern sensibility. Albums by DJs what are you gonna do - remix Abba for 40 minutes? Play a live set through your Apple Mac? Such thoughts are commonplace, yet as 'Sleep Sound' weeps its way through my speakers there is clearly intelligence here and an ear for far more than the dancefloor. Dancefloor albums are all well and good but seemingly pointless when listening to at home. 'Sleep Sound' is a chillout track but with enough sharp beats punctuating the sweeping loveliness to keep you awake. Ah ohh oh ah oooo ahhh.... songs tickle along expertly mixed and produced but despite modern sounds seems rooted in a past the creator likely never lived through - it's an album that deems the 1980s the greatest decade that ever was - tasteful flavours decorating 'Loud Places' for instance.

He's in an indie band called the 'XX' who are fairly acclaimed. Is he? Who? Jamie XX. Who? 'In Colours' has sold copies and peaker at number three on the UK album charts without Jamie xx ever troubling the singles charts. His highest charting single to date reached number 64. recapturing the sound of rave and house and chill out circa 1988 seems to be the key to understanding this record, but it's more 1989, when artists cracked the charts with the kind of records the nobody innovators who never sold anything peddled during 1987 and 1988. Music used to evolve year to year - Jamie xx isn't evolving music, yet has created something utterly listenable, albeit beige and so strangely modern in a world where everyone are turkeys voting for their own destructions every four or five years - because all they care about are themselves. 'The Rest Is Noise' for instance, you can see it, you can see it on a computer screen so cleverly developed and layered. It's soothing, yet there is no beating heart. Where does Jamie xx go next? Back to his indie band? 'In Colours' took five years to put together so if another five years beckon for a follow-up who knows what reception he'll receive. In 1992 there was plenty of music just like this. Slices of semi-enjoyable easy-listening background music remains just that - however cleverley put together.

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