In Waves

In Waves is almost suspiciously competent. There is a track called 'Breather' at six minutes and an interlude called 'Every Single Weekend', and both do exactly what their names promise. House, garage and dance-pop slide into one another so smoothly that Jamie xx rarely puts a foot wrong. That is also the problem. You keep waiting for the immaculate surface to crack and reveal one idea capable of reorganizing the whole album.