- In Colour may not be the best album of the year, but you know what? I’ll be tickled the same various shades of pink on the cover if it doesn’t contain the best dang single of the year. In an ideal situation, I would be much more patient and start this off by talking a bit about the eight tracks that precede it, but I Know There’s Gonna Be Good Times is too exciting and too interesting a song to wait to be talked about.

It’s interesting for a variety of reasons, most of which stem from well beneath the surface (which is that of a radiant, unbridled party track). It’s probably most laudable, though, for the ludicrously perfect sample that serves as its main hook. Samples are nowadays a bit like household appliances. We feel like we’ve discovered all we actually need, until someone comes along with a new one that leaves you whispering, “why didn’t I think of this?” through a covetous precipitation of saliva. Jamie’s sample of Jimmy Hayes’ almost unbearably soulful bellowing in the 1972 Persuasions single Good Times does just this; and it represents a special kind of ingenuity.

Comparing these two songs, which is a normal thing to do, brings out a slightly poignant, but mainly just very true indication of the way things in this lyf have changed. Both are jubilant pieces of music designed to basically make you get down, but they are different in almost every way. The Persuasions’ original is made with just the barest of elements – a bunch of humans, in a room, singing together. In it, Hayes sings about not actually having enough money to really afford anything, but knowing he’ll be able to have a good time just as long as he has his “baby” by his side. Jamie’s version, then, is made with the help of more plug-ins and software and technology than any musician in any era has ever seen. Young Thug’s rhymes concern “poppin’ pills”, “diamonds”, and how “all my money comin’ clean, you can’t rock dis”. Popcaan’s almost indecipherable contributions to the pre-chorus provide an unexpected, yet weirdly appropriate Jamaican dancehall element that is almost completely without context, but somehow ends up setting the whole thing completely alight. Perhaps pointedly, the stereo alignment of the original sample has been flipped.

Obviously, a lot of people will consider the song ridiculous, stupid, and much too party, but that would only be because it is. It just depends how open you are to those qualities. From my perspective, it’s his biggest achievement yet, and while nothing can explain the record’s lowest points (except for maybe the presence of his xx bandmates), Good Times explains more than you might think about the overall vibe and headspace of this record. It’s about a complete adoration of the limitless permutations of sound, and how that can actually come to define someone.

Gosh, Sleep Sound, and Girl are the other highlights of the record, because they all convey that intoxicating level of joy. They showcase Jamie xx’s ability to locate sounds that are rife with memory and feeling, and transform them into new things that radiate with awe and urgency. What an album we’d have on our hands if the same could be said for every track – but honestly, I can’t help the rare feeling that at least those few songs have found me at the perfect time. That’s a pretty good feeling, and it’s enough for me.

- Joe Saxby