Jamiroquai
Automaton

It took seven years to get a new album from Jason Kay, aka Jamiroquai, a project that has been delighting our days and souls since 1993, but with a cadence that is anything but brisk. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your perspective. Since I like to see the glass half full, I say that a few albums are better than no albums at all. The fact is that the band has always been stellar on stage, a reality just as substantial as their recording studio endeavors, to the point that it sometimes feels like the albums are little more than a pretext to expand their live library, as is the case with this Automaton, which adds 12 new tracks - technically flawless - to Jamiroquai's curriculum.

The innovations almost hit absolute zero, even though the misleading title track might have suggested otherwise, being in fact infused with electronic sounds that I don't feel are so strictly linked to Daft Punk as others have written. A parallel can certainly be drawn, but personally, I prefer to stay in-house and look at a similar experiment undertaken by JK in 1999 with Supersonic, another electro freak track that stylistically distanced itself a bit while still remaining fundamentally consistent with the group's somewhat sophisticated and self-satisfied spirit. Having said that, Automaton seems closer to one of our albums from 2001: A Funk Odyssey, being very much attached to disco funk sounds covered in fictitious dust. There isn't much reason to dwell on pedantic details; this is a '70s sound reproduced with necromorbid mania, so much so that in certain instances the temporal reference is lost, were it not for some filters on the voice or other digital embellishments cleverly embedded. Ultimately, we face an album with a much higher entertainment value than the previous, not very successful, Rock Dust Light Star: pleasant tracks imbued with comforting sunshine, timeless and fashion-free, where JKay once again manages to slip in a noteworthy opener, just like the good old days. Shake it On indeed immediately raises the album's quality bar. It's certainly not the best track produced by the Jamy, but the refrain works, and the arrangement is truly overwhelming; with frenzied slapping, piano lines, violins, and synths galore, the crescendo reached at the groove's summit feels like speeding in a Ferrari through the strobe lights of the night, furiously tapping your foot. Few bands can achieve such results, and a band like this has nothing left to prove.

This strength, however, is also the limit of an album that appears much more self-referential than the previous ones, but with many fewer ideas. The problem indeed begins to emerge after Cloud 9, also fully approved, even though it is certainly not revolutionary, but even here, all the elements of a pop track with radio play are all in their place. The eponymous track is well-suited to push the album, with Jay even improvising a rap line in the bridge, and a refrain that does its duty. From Superfresh onwards, however, there is a noticeable decline in songwriting, with tracks that don't seem to have much to say and tend to blend into one another. Boredom is often avoided by the extremely high production level; there is no doubt that in this respect Automaton is unassailable: a wall of sounds set up by the inevitable line of phenomenal session musicians, incredible basslines, multifaceted synth mosaics, violins, saxophones, and more. Kay himself now moves with monstrous ease, using his voice as an instrument and alternating skillfully between instrumental solos that are honestly pure breaths of fresh air for tracks suffering from an oxygen deficit. This can be observed in tracks such as Summer Girl, We Can Do It, Carla, and Nights out in the jungle, the latter even oriented towards the debut album, Emergency On Planet Earth, which, however, is really from another planet in comparison. An ascent is glimpsed in tracks like Dr Buzz and Vitamin, but even in this case, it is still the arrangements and instrumental solutions that come to the rescue. The final part of Dr Buzz is particularly sumptuous, embellished with a saxophone solo and a freestyle of synths and electric guitars that truly gives chills. Appreciable is the lack of ballads to leave full space for tracks conceived to entertain and make you dance.

In conclusion, Automaton is a more successful album than the previous one, but it may represent one of the lesser peaks of the - qualitatively - remarkable Jamiroquai library. There is nothing new to say, Jason Kay is probably aware of this, but that doesn’t stop him from crafting 12 technically impeccable tracks, rich in personality and that expand the touring database. Unfortunately, however, the second part of the album lacks tracks capable of decisively standing out, preferring to let themselves slip into a homogeneous sea of good quality. It’s an album that is a pleasure to listen to, but it might also disappoint those who have been waiting for these seven years with bated breath. However, there is an alternative viewpoint that could redefine the picture for some: given the very poor quality of today’s scene, even an average Jamiroquai album is enough to be considered a masterpiece.