F.U.

Constantly releasing extended and remix editions of albums to fuel the algorithm for more plays is an annoying trend that needs to stop until an artist you like also does it. Jamie xx is guilty of this with the deluxe version of last year’s In Waves, which patches his first full length since 2015 together with a handful of the genre-blending singles he has placated his sizeable fanbase with in the interim.

As a producer, Jamie xx is certainly not without his detractors, having been described as a sedate or worse, an insincere pasticheur (RA) of the underground UK rave scene he draws inspiration from. Yet last year’s album was generally well received, and he along with his Plastic People contemporaries like Four Tet have only benefitted from the explosion in the popularity of light-touch dance music that Fred again.. sparked with his viral Boiler Room (I witnessed an amusing thread on reddit today with some of his new fans discussing how Jamie xx is the antidote to Fred again.. fever).

‘F.U.’ is the first of the latest songs repackaged on this deluxe edition. A track previously only available on the deluxe vinyl until this week, it features a phone recorded sample of Erykah Badu’s set at Primavera in 2019 backed by mechanical house drums and a bouncy, warped 303 line. It is nice to be able to hear the song in full, given my pressing of In Waves is subject to an unresolved (thanks for not a lot Young Records) pressing issue that causes it to keep skipping.

It opens with a creative selection of vocal loops that make the most of what I can imagine is a short recording. That workhorse 303 line soon arrives to make it feel like the pressed pill you just ate is coming up all at once, before writhing up and down what sounds like a pentatonic scale exercise for essentially the whole song.

I must say, though, it sounds like Jamie wasn’t sure how to finish off the track to fit it on the original release. The track is sharp but short and dynamically a little flat, and then it ends with some signature crowd noise. It reads as a bit of an afterthought. Erykah Badu’s reworked vocals and oscillating melody interestingly evokes a bit of a wilder Donna Summer, but the song lacks the immediacy of the original album’s “Baddy On The Floor” or the playfulness of the shapeshifting beat on the deluxe cut “It’s So Good”.

Without the attention to detail that comes with Jamie reaching into his bag to pitch and chop up an old Jewish children’s choir song (‘All You Children’) or the sheer percussive force of ‘idontknow’, it’s unlikely to remain in the rotation. However, it’s a welcome post credit scene for fans to drag them through the remainder of the cold months (in the UK at least) until his next summer set at Primavera. I’ll see you there. 

Edison Nguyen

5 February 2025