Opening with “Shake It On”, Jamiroquai begin the project strapped firmly into the pocket before dropping off into deep space on the album’s title track. A curious band of preservationists, Jamiroquai’s versatility across the Automaton LP proves the value of staying power and musical chops, if nothing else. One that remains a powerhouse of full-bodied grooves, African rhythms, technologically forward composition, world-class talent, and expert pen game - never mind the reductive comments some have lobbed across the pond as of late. Speaking to the instability of the world, technological disappointments, and the wonderful possibilities of life scored by an expertly crafted song, Jamiroquai prove with Automaton that they are as innovative as they are an institution - a well-oiled machine representative of the musical mastery at the heart of the UK sound. Automaton is the unlikely intersection where old London and new London meet for drinks, but stay just long enough to fall back in love. This time, however, the maturation of that aesthetic is apparent and adventurous as they delve into societal failures and deliver the party just sweaty and soulful enough to place a lead foot on the neck of the oft-vapid and musically homogenous EDM that has inexplicably ruled the roost at major clubs over the past several years.Īn ode to the band’s roots, Automaton is constructed to represent the city that made them with a revelatory thump that should be as endearing and familiar to deep house and jungle aficionados and club kids as it is a testament to the mercilessly hard rhythms of Tricky ’s signature trip-hop and SKEPTA ’s homespun grime. The eighth studio album from the band, the project is a 12-track cinematic opus plied with electrodes, stuffed into a cannon, and shot straight through the doors of the disco, where they resurrect the sound that first catapulted them from their UK digs. After years of traversing the rocky post-file sharing terrain of the music industry and a more recent sabbatical, Jamiroquai return with their new Automaton LP.

Seven years after the debut of their 2010 Rock, Dust, Light, Star album, Jamiroquai make their highly anticipated return as the future-forward ambassadors of the acid jazz, funk, and house magic they first pulled from lead singer Jay Kay ’s oversized hat and ultimately spun into gold with 1993’s Emergency on Planet Earth.

Automaton jamiroquai