Though this year marked the official return of Jamiroquai, the band has kept a surprisingly low profile. After giving us two singles, "Automaton" and "Cloud 9," they officially dropped their eighth studio album Automaton back in March. Then they left most of us hanging while they did a few select dates across the globe. Perhaps feeling in a giving mood due to the holiday season, the band gifts us with just the thing to take our minds off the impending cold with a flashback to hot times and warm grooves with the video for "Summer Girl."
Rather than go super high concept like the video for "Automaton" or take us on a stylish, high-speed fantasy ride like "Cloud 9," they keep things pretty straightforward for "Summer Girl." The camera focuses on frontman Jay Kay as he strolls into soundcheck while rocking a brown fur coat and shades. After taking some time to admire his visage in the mirror, he heads to the stage to rehearse his vocals. Lights strobe everywhere as the camera pans across, showing off band members and backing vocalists in the process. That's pretty much the entire premise of the clip, though something about it (perhaps the funk-drenched disco groove, Jay Kay's undeniable cool or maybe a combination of both) keeps our eyes affixed to the screen. And when the clip ventures out into the gray, dreary pre-winter weather outside, it has us longing for the summery groove to never end.
Jamiroquai has yet to announce any North American tour dates, but they do have a handful of South American and European dates listed on their website. Looks like we fans in the U.S. will just have to play this video and dream of warmer days and them possibly playing shows in the States soon. Check it out below.
