When Jamiroquai strutted its way onto the London acid-jazz scene in the early ’90s it was fashionable for artists to revisit the soul and disco sounds of two decades prior. Now, 20 years later, ’90s nostalgia should technically be the order of the day, but frontman Jay Kay and his bandmates are still mining the Me Decade for R&B gold, as evidenced by Jamiroquai’s new single, “Smile.”
You won’t find it on their most recent album, however. And if you live in the United States you won’t find the album, period.
Last November, following a move from their longtime label, Sony, to Universal’s Mercury imprint, Jamiroquai returned with their first studio album since 2005 (and seventh overall), Rock Dust Light Star. But despite platinum sales in the U.S. for their third LP, 1996’s Travelling Without Moving, propelled in part by the innovative, award-winning video for the single “Virtual Insanity,” the group’s 1999 follow-up, Synkronized, failed to build on that momentum, and ever since Jamiroquai’s music has made less and less of a splash this side of the Atlantic. (“Canned Heat,” Synkronized‘s incandescent lead single, eventually earwormed its way into the American consciousness half a decade later thanks to a pivotal scene in the cult movie Napoleon Dynamite.)
The status of Rock Dust Light Star‘s stateside debut remains unknown. That’s why, until I can buy a copy of it, virtual or otherwise, for a decent, non-import price, I feel no shame in admitting I’ve been listening to a pirated version I found online in March.
Jamiroquai are a band but also a brand, complete with a trademark font and “Buffalo Man” logo, and they inspire customer loyalty by continuing to offer quality products, including the Rock Dust Light Star tracks “Smoke and Mirrors,” which tips its hat to Joe Sample and the Crusaders’ 1970s jazz-funk stylings, and “Lifeline,” whose rollicking chorus provides some of the same pleasures as Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes’ “Get Dancin’,” albeit with far less camp value. Bands like Radiohead experiment with and even radically change up their core sound each time out, but Jamiroquai seem content providing variations on a theme — travelling without moving, if you will. You know what you’re getting each time out, just as you would from a favorite novelist whose authorial voice remains constant from one book to the next.
Earlier this week Jamiroquai released “Smile,” available as a free download on Facebook, SoundCloud, and their website, and featuring cover art created by a fan from Australia. Even more so than “Butterfly,” a highlight of Synkronized, or their 2005 single “Seven Days in Sunny June,” “Smile” is a deliciously dreamy summer song, recalling Little River Band’s “Reminiscing” and vintage Earth, Wind & Fire as it casts its quiet-storm spell.
Let yourself go and give in to the groove, but don’t get too mellow — a fan protest in front of Universal’s U.S. headquarters to demand the release of Rock Dust Light Star might not be effective if fans are completely blissed out on Jamiroquai’s superior soul music.