Jamie xx has always worn his influences on his sleeve, but on In Colour it felt like he’d worked on developing a hybrid of these sounds that had its own identity. It was decent, well-produced crowdpleaser music that had ebbs and flows, and earworms that soundtracked the summer of 2015.
In Waves feels like it’s lost that identity. It’s another polished album but it does away with the slower, moodier tracks that made In Colour a more interesting listening experience, leaving wall-to-wall dance cuts that are overly derivative. I can’t help but hear sections – and even whole tracks – that sound like Daft Punk, Jon Hopkins and Frankie Knuckles amongst others, making me wonder why I’m… More