Though often seen as impersonal, dance music can be moving. You can get stuck in a trance, caught in the grooves of a song, waiting for the next beat or line; there may not always be a vocalist, but the producer’s hands are always felt in each moment. In Jamie xx’s case, they’re particularly nimble, filling his sophomore record In Waves with silliness and a commitment to the form.

It’s a skill to diversify house music as much as Jamie does, and each of the tracks on the album glide by with an easiness and charm. Armed with a roster of collaborators (The Avalanches, Robyn, Kelsey Lu, and The xx bandmates Romy and Oliver Sim) and an array of samples, In Waves covers ample territory. There’s the stomping, positivity-heavy “Life,” where Robyn relishes in the beauty and ugliness of reality (though her saying “Doing that bidness, hit it, flip that… Get it, make ‘em gag” isn’t particularly persuasive), the frantic and energy-heavy “Treat Each Other Right” and “The Feeling I Get From You,” and thundering and intense “Waited All Night.” There’s a certain vibe (and life) to each of them, certainly an asset of the wide range of features as well as production acuity to give them room for personalities and feelings.

“Baddy On The Floor” enlists house connoisseur Honey Dijon to signal the record’s main motive — fun. A wonky but effervescent beat commands, swirling with a horn that makes it an absurd but refreshing listen. “Daffodil” is another highlight, with its smattering of scattershot sounds and samples, more of a sonic experience than song. The stomping and glitching breakbeat reunion of The xx on “Waited All Night” highlights each members’ voice, even if you feel like you’re in a dystopian nightclub while you’re there (the same goes for “Breather,” which could soundtrack an underground fashion show).

In Waves ends with three lectures, though they don’t come across as didactic. “Breather” (which is anything but) is a six-minute behemoth that heaps meditative advice in between its warbling bass. “You deserve to feel good, you deserve to feel healthy,” a robotic voice intones before the beat drops. A warm but commanding speaker on “All You Children” instructs listeners to trust in their own self (“We will dance to our own song / We will spin to our own song”) and the Irish spoken word poet Oona Doherty imbues some comedy on “Falling Together.” “This is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena, a little pile of dust suspended in a lightbeam, struggling for significance,” she says, before considering it all, adding, “What the fuck.” It’s the kind of bizarre beat employed by Róisín Murphy and DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ for their recent oddball albums, and a wink never hurts in a sea of sound.

Jamie xx is a bold producer that knows how to contour a song around a voice or idea — the best moments on the record are sleek, sophisticated, and yet groovy. An all-around good time that showcases a technical prowess, In Waves is as joyful as it is precise.

pre-order In Waves by Jamie xx HERE