Jamie XX: 'It's just nice to be back together doing what we do'

Jamie xx sits down with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 to celebrate the release of his sophomore album, In Waves. The musician talks about the long process to finishing his sophomore album, how the London rave scene brought back his passion for Dj-ing, and reuniting with The xx bandmates, Madley Croft and Oliver Sim on his solo project and more.

Jamie xx tells Apple Music about creating ‘The Floor’ residency

Jamie xx: It's really special. And it's so exhausting and the lead up to it is I'm regretting doing it and then as soon as I get into the club and you just feel the energy from the people and I get to feel comfortable in a space that I've built.

Zane Lowe: What is the most challenging part beyond the fun? What's the thing that surprises you every time you decide to take on a challenge like this, building out a club night and doing all that?

Jamie xx: I mean, personally for me it's a very social experience, which is not my usual. I'm pushing myself to do these things that I'm not particularly good at, but it's always beneficial. I get to meet loads of people, artists and fans and just get a better connection with everything that's going on around me because it's quite easy at this point in my career to be able to shut myself off, turn up at a festival and just play and leave.

Jamie xx tells Apple Music why it took so long to finish In Waves

Jamie xx: I think ever since I started, there's been just a drive to, I always feel like everything could be better. 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. And I think the social element of this makes me better at my job as well and just being introduced to new people and new music, young people making music, it's very beneficial for me and it feels rewarding after the fact.

Zane Lowe: Do you feel like you're making dance music when you're making an album? Does it matter to you that it's dance music or is it just music?

Jamie xx: 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 and 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 favorite thing to do in the studio is just to dance around on my own. It usually ends up with some danceable element to it.

Zane Lowe: Execution. Is it hard for you to finish though?

Jamie xx: Yeah. But 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 just was having so much fun with the finer details, working out the track list, so it really felt like an album.

Jamie xx tells Apple Music about reflecting on his twenties and his career

Zane Lowe: When you think about all of the journeys and experiences and adventures you've had to date, does it feel like a blur, the whole thing?

Jamie xx: It feels like it's ramping up a bit, but I think since the pandemic and I got a chance to stop and reflect on everything and realize how much of it was a blur and how amazing it was all, but I really couldn't remember much of my twenties. And I've wanted to find more of that calmness and stillness and being present in my career after that because it made me very happy. I'm trying to find that balance between still doing all the really fun stuff and playing everywhere and making loads of music, but also having time to just reflect on it and enjoy it.

Jamie xx tells Apple Music about the London rave scene and his passion for DJing

Zane Lowe: What's it like listening to it from the point of view of somebody who's a DJ but probably doesn't find themselves naturally on the dance floor, feeling the euphoria that others feel when they hear your music? There's an interesting relationship between the people who create the euphoria and the people who experience it. They're not often the same people.

Jamie xx: I actually love going raving…I think you can have quite profound thoughts even in an altered state on the dance floor. And you can just have a lot of fun and I find it one of the most inspiring things is to go out clubbing.

Zane Lowe: Clearly 'cause it's all over your record, man, which brings us to these raves going on in London on these barges. Can you just tell us how you found out about these? What was going on? Because it just sounds like a great night.

Jamie xx: I don't know just from people, word of mouth and I think these sorts of raves were happening in Hackney all the time anyway, but maybe less frequent. But after the lockdown eased and people were allowed to go outside a bit more, then you could just go and cycle down the canal near where I live and there'd be a rave on a riverbank, a rave in a barge every 10 minutes. And you could spend all night doing that. Sometimes you have to have a boat to get there to the other side of the river.

Zane Lowe: This is brilliant.

Jamie xx: And you'd pay a guy to ferry you across. Just seeing the fact that everybody was so excited to just be back together. It really re-installed the reason why I love the music.

Jamie xx tells Apple Music about reuniting with The xx bandmates and future plans as a group

Jamie xx: It's just nice to be back together doing what we do. It's very natural. I've worked with a lot of people in the last few years and the chemistry that we have just noticeably so different. It's hard to explain.

Zane Lowe: That is something precious you got to hold onto, right?

Jamie xx: 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 realized just to embrace it and enjoy it and I think I'm enjoying the difficulty of it as well now, which is nice.

Zane Lowe: How has it been coming back together with all these different influences and different lessons and different things that you've learned?

Jamie xx: 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 doing 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.

Zane Lowe: Let's talk about Waited All Night and what it was like to actually have them on your album.

Jamie xx: I always knew that I wanted them on the album just 'cause it would feel very unnatural not to have them on it. They're the reason that I can do all of this. That song actually started out as a demo that me and Romy wrote when we were in LA writing songs for pop stars and we just wrote a bunch of songs and spent a few weeks here. And then there was a little ad lib at the end that is the chorus now, and it had been around for years and I remembered that I loved it. Turned that into the chorus and then asked Romy to write a new verse and then asked Oliver to. It was actually very fragmented compared to how we write as a band, but that was cool as well 'cause again, the point of doing this was to do things in a new way.

Jamie xx tells Apple Music about writing music for other artists

Jamie xx: It's fun. It's really nice to be able to do that thing and then go home and make music for yourself again 'cause it feels even more meaningful.

Zane Lowe: Have there been moments where someone sends you back something and you're like, it's yours now, but it's not mine anymore. My name's not on this, it just doesn't feel like me anymore.

Jamie xx: It seems that production is working at the moment. There's so many producers involved and it gets sent through so many different stages that I just go into it without any preciousness at all, which is helpful. And it did help me for a bit in just getting stuff done. Even for my own music.

Zane Lowe: Does it get like that when you're writing for other people and have there been things that have come out, you're like, I don't like it? Even though my name's on it, I don't actually like it.

Jamie xx: Yes, 100% that happens. And actually with time, everything I've ever done feels slightly like that because it's almost like reading an old diary even if you hear it. I don't really like listening back to anything.