Jamiroquai
Rock Dust Light Star

This is the good news: the Jamiroquai of 2010 are a band again and not "Jason Kay's band." This is at least the first, very strong impression you get when listening to the new effort of the Stretford singer, who has just released his seventh studio album, and the first under Mercury Records after the prolific but turbulent years at Sony.

Thanks to the new record label perhaps and a rediscovered creative freedom, certainly thanks to a highly cohesive group, but above all, thanks to Jason's hard-earned human maturation, after five long (but evidently necessary) years of silence since Dynamite, this "Rock Dust Star Light" sounds with surprising freshness: elegant in its simplicity, but tremendously powerful. Keeping the soul and funk coordinates that established Jamiroquai's mark in the global music scene after the first two amazing (um...) albums, maintaining the references to seventies dance and R'n'B that characterized much of the production (not always essential...) starting from "Travelling Without Moving", "Rock Dust Star Light" also highlights in an honest and disarming way especially that intimate streak of Jason Kay which until now has only been hinted at in flashes.

Starting from the first melancholic notes of the opening track ("Rock Dust Star Light", from which the album indeed takes its title), there's an unexpected heart leap, and it almost feels natural to close your eyes and surrender to the sweetness of the sounds and the elegance of the arrangements that manage to highlight damn well every single instrument and every single voice. Well, the beauty of this album lies in the extraordinary, yet never over-the-top, contribution given equally by each musician; indeed, there are different influences felt throughout the twelve tracks that it would be quite difficult to encapsulate Rock Dust Star Light within a single definition. More upbeat moments (the major hit "White Knuckle Ride", "All Good In The Hood", "Hurtin", "She's A Fast Persuader") are perfectly alternated with more elegiac and reflective moments ("Blue Skies", "Never Gonna Be Another") or curious blends of funk and reggae ("Goodbye To my Dancer", "Hey Floyd") which are finally successful compared to past and less happy instances of the band. Jason Kay's obvious, but no less original for that, homage to the eternal idol Stevie Wonder finally takes shape in the seventies and very pleasing "Smoke And Mirrors" and "Two Completely Different Things".

It had been repeatedly read, before the official release of the album, that "Rock Dust Star Light" was recorded live in studio by the whole band, as if to recreate the spirit of a live or a jam session. What can I say, the result is extraordinary, and Jason himself in the album credits indeed feels the need to repeatedly thank the members of Jamiroquai for their extraordinary professional contribution and human support provided as much during the recording phases as above all in difficult times of his recent life. The credits also include thanks to the global radios that broadcast the band's music, "not an insignificant support, especially in the homeland of Great Britain where it all began." (In this case, I find it hard to understand...)

But the most touching (and hopefully sincere) thanks go to the Jamiroquai fans, to whom Jason also wishes that they will like the new songs, and for a life "in peace and spent doing something good every single day." ("Life's too short for anything else. Love J."). 

A curiosity, if it's true that Jason's lyrics have long lost the anarchic and combative charge of the early albums to turn to other more personal themes, there remain the fierce notes in the margin of Rock Dust Star Light's inner booklet reading "And now, the special NON-thank-yous: to Religion in its most destructive form of indoctrination and fundamentalism. To the industries worldwide that produce weapons: madness and sadness. To zoos, circuses, and all those who abuse animals: shame on you! To corrupt governments that continue to destroy their countries’ natural habitats to fill their fat, filthy, and greasy pockets. Wake up!"