Description
Jamie Smith, aka Jamie xx, released In Colour, a debut of gorgeous, sweeping tracks. Through 11 songs and one aesthetically pleasing cover, the xx producer hones in on minimalist values by flushing out any and all unnecessary elements.
Like its accompanying music video, lead single “Girl” is a clean, thick, pastel rectangle rippling with samples. Had Smith stuffed it with more, it could have sunk under its own weight, but he follows in the footsteps of Four Tet or The Field by slowly introducing new sounds and then repeating them until they melt into the foreground. That effervescent ease reappears in “Gosh”, whose music video spans breathtaking views of outer space while wood blocks and masculine vocal samples shuffle against each other. Here, Jamie xx rewires old school house and dub to feel particularly modern.
