Jamie xx ft. Romy and Oliver Sim – Waited All Night
the xx but it’s not called the xx but it’s not not the xx
[Video]
[6.67]
Nortey Dowuona: the xx reunion (neutral)
[7]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Poses as the reverse of the Ship of Theseus — what if the band broke up but kept all of its same parts, making the same kind of music? Maybe this is reading too hard into the feature credit tea leaves, but “Waited All Night” feels in subtle ways weirder and more disjoint than the median xx single, less a carefully manicured garden and more something overgrown and unruly. Jamie’s production threatens to swallow up the two vocalists, deep thrums of the bass jockeying for position. It’s a better xx song than the xx, formally speaking, could be expected to make at this late date, a clever not-even-a-disguise that allows for something great.
[9]
Alfred Soto: Reuniting with his pals for a dance jam, Jamie xx snaps and crackles the beats, speeds up the tempos, and coaxes Romy into cooing “Could I be this close to you?” like Tracey Thorn three decades ago, tired and drunk in the club but awake enough for possibilities.
[7]
John S. Quinn-Puerta: There’s a trick here where a vocal sample becomes a staccato Nile Rodgers guitar in my ear. It punches at the same weight as the drums under Romy and Sim’s flowing vocals, adding something frenetic even as it repeats.
[9]
TA Inskeep: Even though all three xx members are on this, this doesn’t sound like the xx. It sounds like Jamie xx’s solo work, just with vocals from Romy (whom I feel is the spiritual daughter of Alison Goldfrapp) and Oliver Sim. I’m a sucker for a well-made, subtly throbbing late-night house record, precisely what this is.
[8]
Jel Bugle: Adult Contemporary Dance Music, the kind of music I just don’t like – it’s clinical and lacking any kind of joy for me. I am not going to the club, and I am not going to dance.
[1]
Kat Stevens: It seems fair to expect Jamie xx to produce some gloomy textured beats to accompany the scene where a miserable protagonist is sat on the platform at Hackney Central, pointedly ignoring the trains and passengers streaming past at 10x speed, slowly looking down and cupping their chin in their hands and regretting their life choices. It also seems fair that I’d much rather listen to the shameless weekend-finally-here euphoria that is somehow also on the Jamie xx album.
[5]
Ian Mathers: It’s not that the appeal of the xx eludes me; every time I’ve listened to them I feel like I should enjoy them more. If they made a whole record that sounded like this, I feel like I might get there.
[7]
Katherine St. Asaph: Immaculate set filler. Fade it after Romy’s verse.
[7]
Reader average: [6] (1 vote)