Jamie xx eases back on the couch in his green room at The Filinvest Tent. He’s still jetlagged from the 15-hour flight that brought him to Manila from Los Angeles.
Thumping bass can be heard through the walls; his opening act George C is holding court. Beside the couch, Jamie’s controllers and kit wait their turn. Someone’s laid Tarsius’ second LP Culture Cow on top. Across from the couch, an untouched table of snacks and drinks. Snatches of conversation leak in from the window behind his head. Excited chatter from eager fans standing in the line that snakes around the corner from the venue’s entrance, oblivious to the fact the person they’re here to see is mere feet away and listening to them.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks since Jamie xx released his second solo album, In Waves. The much-anticipated follow-up to 2015’s In Colour came out to positive reviews and a pop-up club experience in his homebase of London before the customary gauntlet of press and then shows in South America. This Manila performance begins the Asian leg of his In Waves tour, which will then move on to dates in Australia before proceeding to North America. As part of The xx, Jamie has played Manila twice before, but this will be his first time as a solo act.
[W]hen there is an idea that I know could be good, it definitely stays in my head for years and years.
While In Colour felt like a love letter to the rave culture that was so instrumental in his youth, In Waves sounds like the album that could take its place in that firmament: faster and bigger and with sly bits of history — a tour from an impassioned guide. Along for the ride: luminaries like Robyn and The Avalanches, as well as his bandmates Oliver Sim and Romy.
Before treating this Manila crowd to a stellar show, filled with the confident peaks and valleys honed over a decade’s experience, Jamie xx sat with Rolling Stone Philippines to discuss the birthing pains of his new record, what the next xx album might be, and how yoga surprised him.
Let’s start with a softball: Where did all the steelpans go?
[Laughs] Last week, I gave my steelpan to my best friend’s kid. He just had a kid, and it was like a little kid steelpan actually, that I made a lot of those songs on. So it felt like a… passing it on of sorts.
How much of working on a second album entails you looking back and thinking, “What should I avoid” or “What do I aim for?”
I think it doesn’t really involve looking back. It just involves, like, trying to not think about it. And it’s just, it’s been so many years of trying different ways to make this album that… I went through many different processes trying to not think about it.
It’s been nine years since the first one. And correct me if I’m wrong, I think it even took you by surprise just how well-received and successful it became. What was the pressure like, in terms of embarking on the second one? You said you’ve been working on it for years and went through different processes. What was keeping it from… becoming?
Well, there’s always pressure. Ever since, I think, my first album, and the first xx album, there was pressure, but it wasn’t, like, excruciating. And then every other album has been quite excruciating with the band or for myself, just because… I don’t know, there’s more. There just is more pressure, and you think about it more because other people have heard what you have to say already.
Also, I just don’t think it’s worth putting something out unless it really means something, and it’s been painful to make so yeah, it’s part of the deal, I think.
For tracks that you made then that didn’t work out: Do you keep those, or do you just start fresh? Are you the type of person who looks back and says, “This didn’t work then, maybe I could return to it with fresh ears later…”
Well, yeah, I mean, some tracks take years and years to make. And sometimes I think they’ll never get finished, but then there’s so much stuff that never becomes anything. Eventually, I will get rid of that and start fresh. I’m about to start fresh again because I just can’t look at any of the stuff that I was looking at for this album anymore. But when there is an idea that I know could be good, it definitely stays in my head for years and years.
Do you rely on that? “If it sticks in my head, then it’s good.” Or do you make notes?
No, I don’t make notes.
So it’s instinct?
Yeah, yeah. It’s all a total mess. Sometimes it will just click. For me at least, either something takes a day to make, and then it’s done, or it takes years to make, and it’s just very slow putting it together, taking it apart, putting it together. There’s nothing in between.
You’ve mentioned [how] the lockdown was an impetus for starting to lay down the ideas for this album. What was it about that period that spurred you on?
It was a combination of being at home for the first time since I was– whatever, really– for a long period of time, and feeling unified with everybody else, people who are musicians, people who weren’t… everybody’s in the same boat. And I’d never felt like that either. I loved that sense of community, and I got a moment to stop and think about why I was doing this and realize all the things I was doing wrong, and realized I wasn’t really enjoying it very much over the previous couple of years. Then trying to right those wrongs.
[E]very time I make an album, it just gets more intense. But I was enjoying that process a lot, of just… making it perfect, which I’ve never enjoyed before. I’ve always hated that.
Is there a typical creative process for you? Do certain conditions have to be met, time of day, or some such?
No, I’ve always tried to find that thing, and it never works. I wish there was. It would be a lot easier, but I just [tend to] listen to a lot of music. And then the weirdest things will jump out at you and make you think about making something. Usually, it’s not what I’d expect it to be. On the plane here, I was watching the Stax documentary, the HBO one [Stax: Soulsville USA]. And there’s obviously so much great music that came out of Stax Records. But there was this little background bit of music, which is just nothing. That made me think about making something. So, yeah, it’s just always weird, just things that come out of nowhere.
In this album, was there an influence that really surprised you?
I guess the yoga.
The yoga?
In “Breather.” I started making it as a joke because the videos are quite funny and very overly sincere. So, yeah, that was unexpected. That was one of the things that happened very quickly, and it all worked, but most of it was just a lot of overthinking.
Overthinking … Is that part of your process?
I think so. I wish it wasn’t.
When do you know to let go? When does something feel like it’s finished?
This time was the most effort I’ve ever put into listening to the tracklist over and over again until it was perfect and making all the transitions exactly right. And feeling like it was finished seven or eight times, and handing it in seven or eight times, then going back and making it better… I don’t know, maybe every time I make an album, it just gets more intense. But I was enjoying that process a lot, of just… making it perfect, which I’ve never enjoyed before. I’ve always hated that.
How do you mean you didn’t enjoy it? Was it–
Because it was just so tiresome and non-creative. Literally just listening to these things that you’ve heard a million times over and over again. It stops being music after a point, and it just starts being like, the equivalent to accounting, which is quite satisfying in itself. And I’ve never had that feeling, that I’ve enjoyed that little bit.
You’ve been playing a number of the songs in sets all over the past couple of years. How important is it to you to “road test” the material?
For this album, it was really helping me feel like I was getting closer to the end, and I’ve not really needed that before. So that feedback from the audience was really helpful, and it spurred me on and made me excited to finish things quickly on the plane so I could play them. I don’t know if that would be part of the process moving forward. It was great for this one.
With this album, you’ve got this really great roster of collaborators. How did you assemble this particular group?
It started, again, in lockdown, and it was a lot easier for me to start collaborating because everybody was… it had to be over email or text anyway. So it was a relaxed way of doing stuff, rather than spending days face-to-face in the studio — maybe getting something but [having] a lot of time spent in awkward moments, which is usually productive, but also very energy-sapping. So that was an easy way into the collaborations. And I did lots of different collaborations. All the ones that ended up on the record are the ones with people that I have, like, a meaningful relationship with.
Lots of different collaborations… Is it a difficult process figuring out which one is the right one?
Not really. It all just fell into place, like the things that worked and that I finished, with the things that I fell in love and I felt like I had a connection with… that part of it was all natural.
Romy and Oliver feature on In Waves. Since the last xx record, each of you has put out a solo album. Is there any idea what the next one will sound like?
There is no idea what it’s going to sound like, but we have been in the studio — mostly just talking, catching up. I mean, we’re playing our instruments, but there’s nothing solid. But it’s nice to play again. I hope it could be– it doesn’t have to take that long. It’d be nice.
I just don’t think it’s worth putting something out unless it really means something.
After all this time, is it just like before — the process of working out ideas with them?
The music bit is the same, but the relationship with each other is definitely different. Just because we’ve all grown up, and have our own lives. Romy has a wife. And the fact that they have their solo albums for the first time ever is a new dynamic, because they’re experiencing for the first time having full creative control, and then having to come back to a collaborative thing has proved a bit more difficult than I thought they would find it. But it’s interesting for me to see that because I was doing that 15 years ago, and now they understand how difficult some of that was, which is quite satisfying for me.
Do you get to discover new music when you’re on tour?
Well, I’ve been listening to music for my shows, for playing out, finding new dance music and stuff. But I haven’t really until a couple of weeks ago– I hadn’t really been listening to music for pleasure since I finished the album because I just had [an] overload. It was good to clear the palate. I went to Rio [de Janeiro] for five days for a tour, and I bought loads of records, and I came home with a box of records that big [Gestures]. I’d just been at home for the last week listening to all those records, which brought me back to finding music again.
And does it feel like how it felt at the beginning?
Yeah, it’s very instant. It’s easy to forget sometimes how it is my passion and my hobby. Sometimes it does feel like work, but it’s so nice to get back into that headspace.
