LONDON — The appetite for DJs in fashion has been brewing and growing over the past four years, but it seems nobody is more in demand than Jamie xx, who was born James Smith.
He’s been tapped by Prada and H&M for DJ sets; Tekla for a capsule collection and a track for Chanel’s Coco Rush campaign starring Blackpink’s Jennie, Lucy Boynton, Amandla Stenberg and Lucas El Bali.
The English musician, DJ and record producer, who was a member of The xx, is now readying a personal project that’s dear to his heart and art. His sophomore album “In Waves” comes out Friday. It’s been nine years since he released his debut album, “In Colour,” which granted him a nomination at the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016.
“In Waves,” Jamie xx’s sophomore album.
Courtesy
“I kind of wait until things start to click together and this time it was more about the rest of my life. [I was] learning how to be a grownup and finding stuff outside of music that was important to me because basically everything in my life had been music since I was a teenager and I hadn’t had a chance to stop,” he says in an interview.
The COVID-19 pandemic gave him time to pause and reflect. “Then I started really enjoying making music again — just for the fun of it,” says Smith.
He got his friends involved in the making of the album — even if it was just via text messages and voice notes because the country was in lockdown. American singer and cellist Kelsey Lu features on the new album, and so do the Australian electronic music group The Avalanches, Honey Dijon, Panda Bear, Robyn and Romy, also a former member of The xx.
Jamie xx’s Tekla collaboration.
Courtesy of Tekla
The experience was a joyous one with friendship as its core, Smith says.
“It was a nice way to work and I got to work with people that were closer to me than if I’d just been going to a studio and working with really big artists that I hadn’t met before — I’ve done those things before and it’s an interesting challenge, but often not that much comes out of it, except for me wanting to go home and make music on my own again,” he says in his calming voice.
On the track “Dafodil,” Smith was texting with Lu about a night out they had in London before she had moved to the city. He asked her to retell the events of the night in voice note form, which he then manipulated into a sound that’s part spoken word behind a downtempo beat.
Jamie xx playing in New York City.
Kadar R. Small
Smith says he’s tried everything under the sun to get his creative juices flowing. “The best way is try and make it as calm as possible around you and get into get into your head that it’s not always going to be fun. It’s also a job and it’s really hard sometimes — then when it is fun, it’s really rewarding,” he adds.
In the last year, he’s played festivals including Coachella, Form Festival and Glastonbury and will kick off his “In Waves Tour” from Sept. 25 in London that will then travel to Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Australia. In between the tour, he will also be playing at festivals in Las Vegas; San Francisco; Arcosanti, Ariz.; Miami; and Palm Springs, Calif.
Jamie xx playing in London.
Smith’s music has captured a large audience.
“I definitely struggled with it for a long time. It’s hard to see your place in the landscape of dance music, when some people are sort of doing what you did 10 years ago. I just had to put on the blinkers and do my own thing — that’s how I managed to finish this record,” he says.
