Jamie Smith has characterised his new album as the sound of an artist stepping from the darkness into the light. It’s hardly an original metaphor but, in this case, carries a degree of literal truth, with a move to New York expanding Smith’s musical horizons. “Before the first xx record, I pretty much exclusively listened to electronica,” he said recently (Smith, aka Jamie xx, is the brooding trio’s resident producer and marshaller of beats). “Now, I listen to anything. I think the most inspiring thing is just learning more about more and more different kinds of music and becoming a fan of so many different types and so many different genres.”
Smith assembled In Colour in tandem with The xx’s forthcoming third LP and at moments it resembles a fully-fledged band effort. Romy Madley-Croft sings on the playfully rhapsodic ‘Loud Places’, which swaps the group’s crepuscular gloom for an air of carnival celebration. On ‘Gosh’, there is a hat-tip towards Jamie’s recent infatuation with hip-hop (cultivated listening to New York’s Hot 97 on his daily commute), though the track’s initial swagger quickly segues into minimalist melancholia – a trick he reprises on ‘Girl’. ”I like the contrast in making something that sounds sunny but also has an element of melancholy to it,” Smith told Rolling Stone – a statement which perfectly summarises the happy-sad dynamic that gives In Colour much of its emotional heft.
KEY TRACK: 'Gosh'