Albums
May: 18 albums you need to hear this month
Little Dragon, Shed, Anthony Parasole and more
Jamiroquai 'Automaton' (Virgin EMI)
Let’s get straight into it: ‘Automaton’ is Jay Kay’s biggest pop moment since 2005’s ‘Feels Just Like It Should.’ Its electronic confidence is thanks in part to keyboardist Matt Johnson, as well as a general rethink after 2010’s slightly underwhelming ‘Rock Dust Light Star’. ‘Cloud 9’, for example, is quintessential 90s Jamiroquai (which is a good thing), but ‘Shake It Off’ is a production in search of a proper chorus that only suffers further next to ‘Automaton’, which immediately heads for the stars. ‘Superfresh’ is less than the sum of its disco parts, though, while the less said about ‘Hot Property’ the better. But it picks up with ‘Something About You’ and ‘Summer Girl’, while ‘Carla’ is an electro-funk classic.
7/10
