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Back to basics

BY HIS OWN admission, Jason Kay and his band Jamiroquai have been away for a long time.

But four years after a hits collection completed his contractual obligations to Sony Music, which signed him in 1992, he’s finally ready for his comeback.

Kay spent his hiatus training to become a helicopter pilot. It’s the latest obsession for the self-confessed adrenaline junkie, along with a prized collection of automobiles at his 80-acre Buckinghamshire estate, located west of London.

But it hasn’t all been thrill-seeking during the break. Kay applied the same rigour and passion to the recording of Jamiroquai’s new album. Rock Dust Light Star, which will be released worldwide outside of North America on November 1 on Mercury/Universal.

Recorded largely in his home studio, it’s something of a back-to-basics affair, by his standards. Once dubbed “the cat in the hat” — he still wears a variety of elaborate headgear onstage — Kay is also full of jittery enthusiasm about resuming touring, although he says things will be more “laid-back” than the hyperactive performances of old.

“At 40 years old you don’t want to be doing stuff that you did when you were 19,” he says. “You’ve got to grow with the music. Even I forget Cosmic Girl was 13 years ago. A lot changes in that time.”