“I always feel like everything could be better – I finished this album eight times”: Jamie xx reflects on new solo record, In WavesHow do you know when a track is truly finished? As producers, we’re probably all guilty of not knowing when to call it a day and wrap things up. Maybe that snare needs a little more 4kHz. Could I re-record that bassline and get a better take? It’s a problem which afflicts Jamie xx.

READ MORE: “I used to be very shy but I would observe what everyone was dancing to and what worked”: How The xx’s Romy found her confidence as a DJ

He’s about to release his second studio album In Waves – its official release date is Friday, 20 September – but as he recalls in a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, knowing when to call the album a done deal proved difficult.
“I always feel like everything could be better,” he explains. “That’s why it took so long for me to finish this album because I finished it eight times and then there was always this bit in me that felt like it could be one better.”
He later adds: “This time, I’ve enjoyed finishing this album more than I’ve enjoyed finishing anything. Usually it’s a bit of a slog and this time one of the reasons why it took so long is because I was just having so much fun with the finer details, working out the track list, so it really felt like an album.”
In Waves was recorded over a period of four years, and five singles from its 12-song tracklist have already been released: Baddy on the Floor, Treat Each Other Right, Life, All You Children and Dafodil.

Elsewhere in the interview, Jamie xx touches on whether he strives to make a record that’s specifically dance music, or whether he aims to simply create music and let things flow.
“With this album, it mattered to me more because when I was in lockdown I was starting to get excited about the idea of playing shows again,” he says. “I was excited about this new music I was making and I wanted to be able to play it so it had to fit in the way that I perform, which is DJing.
“Also, my favourite thing to do in the studio is just to dance around on my own. It usually ends up with some danceable element to it.”
Back in January, Jamie xx’s bandmate Romy confirmed that the xx were back in the studio together working on new music.
Also in the new Apple Music interview, Jamie reflects on what it’s been like working once again with his xx bandmates.
“It’s just nice to be back together doing what we do,” he says. “It’s very natural. I’ve worked with a lot of people in the last few years and the chemistry that we have is noticeably so different. It’s hard to explain.”
He goes on: “It’s always difficult to make an album and especially when it’s a compromise between three people. And again, after this time of us all doing separate things, coming back together, I’ve realised just to embrace it and enjoy it and I think I’m enjoying the difficulty of it as well now, which is nice…
“We are all in very different places mentally and in our lives outside of music. It’s more of a challenge, but I think that that was the point of us all going out and donig this and now it’s about bringing it back in. And the challenge is going to make the album what it is and I think going to make it the best one yet, but it’s going to be more effort.
Jamie xx’s new album In Waves arrives Friday, 20 September. You can listen to his full conversation with Zane Lowe from 6pm BST, Wednesday 18 September on Apple Music.
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