There is music for a big night out and there is music about a big night out, and the latest by Jamie xx fits in the latter category. Jamie Smith was 18 when, as the most reticent member of the reticent indie trio the xx, he found himself exposed to far more public attention than he had bargained for. The xx offered a surprisingly successful vision of electronic melancholy, with the young Smith lauded for his precocious way of using studio equipment as an instrument.
Then came his 2015 solo debut, In Colour , a superb album that felt more like a reflection on dance music than actual dance music itself. Almost a decade later, he has followed it up with an update on the.