Riding the ebb and flow of dance music, Jamie xx found his place again

Nine long years have passed since Jamie xx put out one of the most acclaimed electronic dance albums of the 2010s, but In Colour finally has a successor.

The English producer’s new album, In Waves, was partly inspired by Jamie’s experience isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A lot of the time, thinking about playing [the album] when dance floors were happening again,” he tells World Cafe during a video call. “Thinking about more of the words on the album and how I’d be able to be there and watch people connect with it.”

In this session, Jamie xx talks about the eclectic sonic landscape of In Waves; the equally eclectic roster of collaborators (Robyn, Honey Dijon, The Avalanches); and how the ever-changing state of dance music was partially behind the record’s long incubation period.

“It used to feel a little bit my own,” he says. “I was dealing with the loss of that and the fact that a lot of the dance music I was hearing, I felt wasn’t that meaningful … and yet, people were connecting with it and it was getting more and more popular and I didn’t know where my place in it was anymore.”

Plus, we’re turning into “Club Cafe” today, playing part of Jamie’s set at his recent DJ residency in New York City, The Floor.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.