Album: Jamie xx

On his first stand-alone album, Jamie Smith steps out of a world of endless monochrome into the sunlight. That may sound melodramatic, but the transformation of the artistic sensibilities of The xx’s in-house beat-master is truly startling. Where once all was gloom and introversion, here the tone is endlessly upbeat, with gospel, carnival music, and celebratory house grooves co-existing in sweet harmonium.

There are several guest turns — most memorably from The xx vocalists, Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim. However, Smith’s is the dominant sensibility and he is at ease shuffling between genres, looking to the dance-floor on a briskly buoyant ‘Loud Places’, and deploying droning Krautrock on the careening ‘Gosh’ (a song that will sate the curiosity of anyone wondering what Neu! would sound like fronted by Keith from The Prodigy).

For fans of The xx, Into Colour constitutes an eye-opener. Major-key melodrama is one of the group’s go-to settings and much of what makes the band special endures with that seemingly ‘key’ ingredient removed. The artistic advancement from Smith’s 2012 Gil Scott-Heron remix project is telling, too, with Smith pushing past the claustrophobia that made We’re New Here easier to admire than enjoy.

What’s especially striking is how well In Colour coheres as an album. Chronicling Smith’s relocation from London to New York, it’s tempting to read it as an ode to seizing the moment. For that reason, and amid all the genre-straddling and stylistic playfulness, Into Colour is powerfully confessional — a hymn to personal advancement dressed up as a dance record.