Jamie xx - In Colour
Critic Score
Based on 45 reviews
2015 Ratings: #29 / 1021
Year End Rank: #6
User Score
2015 Rank: #44
Liked by 223 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Q Magazine
An album so rich, complex and dazzlingly fluid.
100
AllMusic

As it moves from reflective to engaging and back again, In Colour covers the entire spectrum of Jamie xx's music, delivering flashes of brilliance along the way.

100
The Arts Desk
A rich, wide-ranging smörgåsbord that dips into rave culture’s 27-year electronic journey without ever predictably replicating club styles.
100
Consequence of Sound

Each song grows richer the more you explore its open space. Its minimalism breathes buckets of color. After one listen or 10, In Colour reflects brightly, a phenomenally poised and universally approachable solo debut.

93
Pitchfork
It’s the dazzling culmination of Jamie xx’s last six years of work, gathering up elements of everything he’s done—moody ballads, floor-filling bangers, expansive and off-kilter collaborations with vocalists—and packing them tightly into a glittering ball that reflects spinning fragments of feeling back at us.
91
Pretty Much Amazing
Like much of Jamie xx’s body of work, it’s a chronicle of distance, both romantic and musical, a swooning love song for beat-loving introverts and sensitive ravers.
90
Drowned in Sound
There’s a depth to this record that evokes an intellectual approach to his craft: every beat, synth and sample appears to have been meticulously planned by this music nerd (which is in no way meant as a diss).
90
Billboard

For as erudite as it is, though, In Colour doesn't require footnotes to enjoy -- it's first and ­foremost a dance record.

90
Earmilk

It is completely stunning, in the sense that I can't believe artists like Jamie xx still exist and can still create full length projects of this quality.

90
Exclaim!

In Colour is a master class in deftness.

90
The Line of Best Fit

In Colour is a record that could soundtrack break ups, facilitate unions, and prompt both soul searching and sweaty debauchery.

90
HipHopDX

Those looking for an album which actively engages the future of music while remembering the imperfect past has much to enjoy with In Colour.

90
No Ripcord
The record finds a perfect balance between being a statement on rave culture itself and reveling in sincere, in-the-moment exhilaration and emotion.
90
SPIN
It is exceedingly rare to find a producer who does so much, with so little, that he distilled from, again, so much. If drugs are the backbone of beat-based music, as some argue, Jamie xx’s is the purest kind.
90
NME
Less has always been more with Smith, and the success of ‘In Colour’ lies in his gift for melding together very few elements to create songs that are original, surprising and highly effective.
85
Under the Radar

Although each of the LP's 11 parts change genres and tempo at the drop of a hat, In Colour consistently feels cohesive and directed. It is not simply a collection of disparate electronic styles, but a portfolio of the full skill-set of one of Britain's best producers.

85
Northern Transmissions

In Colour is an album you could spend hours unpicking, discussing samples and references. Or you could slip on your headphones, and turn down the harsh call of the outside world.

84
Sputnikmusic

In a sentence, that’s why In Colour is so good: it remodels slabs of wax in a way that not only acknowledges but embraces the pop potential those snippets of sound have been denied for so long.

80
Record Collector
The album manages to transcend genre, but never once feels disjointed. Any mis-steps are quickly developed into something bigger, and no single noise ever outstays its welcome.
80
The Sydney Morning Herald
Gosh is cleverly built around nightclub microphone hype, while Croft's Loud Places hijacks an obscure gospel sample for a euphoric chorus. One of the year's best releases.
80
Mixmag
More than a simple change in direction, this debut album feels like the culmination of pretty much everything he's done up to this point in his career.
80
FLOOD Magazine

In Colour is definitely a producer’s record. It’s meant to show off his clever talent for sound manipulation, and there’s an overarching, trip-hoppy languidness to much of it.

80
The Observer

While it is true that In Colour is considerably happier than the xx’s works ... it is also one of the least lairy party albums in the world, ever, a potent antidote to bro-step, the current stadium iteration of dance music.

80
Evening Standard

In Colour is a sonic sidestep from the trio’s sparse, monochrome melodies, which frees up Smith to explore British club culture.

80
Complex

In Colour isn't only a necessary listen, but an important one too.

80
NOW Magazine

In Colour is not so much about the past as it is a reaction to two-dimensional dance music in the present - a yearning for warmth, beauty and emotional connections.

80
Mojo

In Colour really comes into its own when Jamie xx gets abstract and confounding; where his ability to conjure something wonderful from mosaic, non-linear paths is most evident.

80
The Guardian

Although In Colour flirts with being overly tasteful, it usually manages to stay just the right side of strange – much like the xx themselves.

80
Clash
For the time being we have an emotive, emphatic and often joyous collection of music that plays equally for the head and the heart. A glorious, technicolour triumph.
80
Loud and Quiet
Assured, polished, and precise, if we’ve learned anything over the last few years it’s that a little patience has only ever heightened Jamie xx’s brilliant understatement.
80
FasterLouder
Jamie xx makes dance music to move you emotionally as much as physically
80
Rolling Stone
What Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" was to the hippie era, Jamie xx's solo debut is to British club culture: a wistful valentine conjuring a more innocent time.
80
Uncut

What In Colour reveals is the sheer scope of Smith’s skills as a songwriter and producer. The xx on ecstasy: not a bad idea at all.

80
musicOMH
This is a cosmopolitan piece of work, a kind of Notting Hill Carnival record, where steel pans, UK garage, soul and funk freely mix, rubbing shoulders on the same dancefloor.
80
DIY
Each shade on ‘In Colour’ is meant to represent the various strands to Jamie xx’s work, and it’s no surprise that this debut is a wildly varied introduction.
80
PopMatters

On the whole, In Color is a vibrant, warm distillation of Jamie xx’s genre-spanning influences, one which could easily result in a meteoric rise in his profile.

75
A.V. Club
This is restrained, level-headed exploration of his inspirations, striking in its simplicity yet remarkably engaging.
70
Crack Magazine

If the aim was to establish himself as an individual performer of great talent, to send off the nervous shoe-gazing boy reputation – to efface his own self-effacement, maybe – In Colour is a great success.

70
God Is in the TV

His deft touch and subtle flourishes call to mind a by gone age in dance music when you were limited by technology and had to work around that to create something remarkable.

70
The Needle Drop
Jamie xx makes an enjoyable splash with his debut full-length.
60
Time Out London
‘In Colour’ is a fine album, but expecting songs as feisty as his DJ sets is a big mistake.
60
Louder Than War

In Colours is, like its creator, a display case for club culture and plays like a sonnet to the scene. It has lots of moments that will excite many and features some of the finest work Jamie has ever created but unfortunately it doesn’t quite sit well as a whole.

60
The 405
It seems that, rather than setting out to create a straight-up dance record, he's used the manifold stylistic languages of dance to make an easily-digestible electronic-pop record that's about dance music and Why we Dance.
52
Resident Advisor
What we're left with is an uneven album that's rarely as profound or as meaningful as it tries to be.
40
XS Noize
Instead of building on his past works, he treads water and, ultimately, ends up going backwards, producing an album that is, in the main unmemorable and fairly bland.
UltimateLifeFrm
90

Shoutout to @andylikesmusic for the recommendation!

I've been so hyped to hear this album for quite a while now, since Jamie xx is quite a prolific producer in electronic music in the UK and I would sometimes hear his music in late night dance mixes on the radio during the weekends.

It wasn't easy finding a physical copy of this album (I prefer to experience albums like this on CD with the best sound system), but I finally got it and now it's time to party.

Jamie xx's music tends to balance ... read more

ST4T1C
100

"Honestly, Nevermind" by Drake but actually good...

Jamie xx's debut album "In Colour" has been in my to-do list for a couple years now, and figured I'd finally check it out fully after all these years of putting it off. And man, this is just some amazing house and uk bass tunes! Tracks like "Gosh" and "SeeSaw" have some legitimately stellar and cool as shit production, honestly some of the best I've heard from this side of the house music sphere! It ... read more

depechemode4lif
92

A phenominal piece of electronic music that perfectly captures the essense it 2010s electronic music. With near flawless production, an array of guest voalists hop on this project, though some of the best moments are the instrumentals. Also, that Thugger track kicks ass. Beautiful artistry.

Tiedough
85

Downtempo beats, matched with melancholic vocals and deconstructed dance beats. Jamie xx’s debut album is not only amazing. But an emotional journey everyone should go on.

For me, being in the electronic scene, I always thought UK bass and future garage was rave music. Even deep house gave me the same vibes. Although, starting to get into Fred Again.. it changed my perspective on bass music. Jamie xx, by far, produced my favorite UK bass album. Every single song on this album is either ... read more

LitDinosaur
90

Crazy enough to paint fruitful colors with dazzling beats and calm enough to put them together naturally with downtempo melodies. In Colour is that kind of musical transportation.

Number:#626
First Listen:2024.3.11
Times I Have Fully Listened To:1
First Re-Listen:
Lately Re-Listen:
Special Meaning:
Collection:

Nukeproofbear
86

The album cover is like the opposite of No Love Deep Web.

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Track List

1Gosh
4:50
90
2Sleep Sound
3:48
89
3SeeSaw
4:32
feat. Romy
90
4Obvs
3:51
84
5Just Saying
1:23
79
6Stranger in a Room
2:57
80
7Hold Tight
4:03
86
8Loud Places
4:43
feat. Romy
93
9I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)
3:33
78
10The Rest Is Noise
4:57
89
11Girl
4:00
91
Total Length: 42 minutes
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Added on: March 26, 2015