Jamie xx — Sound, Identity and the Emotional Electronic Tradition
UK Bass & Electronics · Updated May 2026
Jamie xx is the project of Jamie Smith, a member of The xx whose solo work has become one of the most significant bodies of production in contemporary UK electronic music. In Colour (2015) on Young Turks is the defining record of the post-dubstep and emotional club space — a record that moved between grief, euphoria and dancefloor functionalism without distinguishing between them.
The Sound of Jamie xx
Smith's production background — co-writing and producing all three xx albums alongside his solo work — gave him an understanding of song structure and emotional restraint that distinguishes his work from producers who arrived at electronic music through DJing alone. In Colour (2015) applied this sensibility to a record that incorporated house, grime, UK bass and steel pan samples in a sequence that felt both formally rigorous and completely spontaneous. "Loud Places" with Romy and "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)" with Young Thug and Popcaan represented the emotional and commercial peaks — tracks that worked on radio, on the dancefloor and as home listening simultaneously. His production work for Rihanna, Drake and others demonstrated the same quality: a restraint that made the emotional content more rather than less present. Reference track: "Loud Places".
Jamie xx and UK Club Culture
Smith's DJ career has developed in parallel with the production work — Fabric residencies, Boiler Room appearances, a booking history that spans intimate club nights and festival headline slots. His DJ approach reflects the same taste that made In Colour coherent: a willingness to play material from across the full range of UK and international electronic music without forcing generic coherence on a set. He has championed Burial's music publicly and his aesthetic debt to the post-dubstep space is visible in every aspect of the In Colour production. Four Tet and Smith are the two producers who most completely realised the promise of the post-dubstep moment — music that was emotionally direct and formally adventurous simultaneously.
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Why Jamie xx Matters in 2026
In Colour became one of the most-streamed electronic albums of the 2010s and introduced UK electronic music to an audience that had not previously engaged with the club culture that produced it. Smith's second solo album We're New Here (a collaboration with Gil Scott-Heron's music) and his continued production work have maintained his presence at the centre of UK electronic music. For the artists whose aesthetic is closest to the Jamie xx sound — emotionally direct, post-club, formally intelligent — browse Burial, Four Tet and Fred again...
