Jamiroquai – Automaton (2017)

This album is funky, of course, just as you’d expect it to be, but there’s a definite contemporary edge to Jamiroquai’s most recent studio outing. It’s also the one that Turner claims to be most proud of. “In bass terms, it has a varied palette of both playing styles and tones, and it was great to be a part of all of that,” he tells us. “There’s dark, flatwound playing on my 1963 Precision, and I also used a fretless five-string Music Man on the title track. You’ll hear my 1966 Jazz and my Stenback five-string on there as well.” Turner’s parts vary from uplifting lines on songs such as ‘Summer Girl’, which has an acid jazz feel, to songs like ‘Vitamin’ which are more old-school. “Those songs are still acid jazz, but they’re getting closer to the jazz side of that sound,” he says. “The album sounded and felt new, which was important to us because we don’t like to feel that we’re doing the same album over again. Jay always wants to move forward, both sonically and stylistically, and I think on Automaton we hit both of those sweet spots. I played all the tracks through my Jule Monique preamp.”