Some bands reunite to take advantage of nostalgia, to get one last big payday before streaming services and piracy consume the last vestiges of the music industry.
For Luscious Jackson, the three-piece best known for 1990s songs like “Naked Eye” and “Ladyfingers,” getting back together is less about ambition and more about having fun.
“We all have kids, and some of us have full-time jobs, and we’re fitting this into our full lives,” said singer and bassist Jill Cunniff. “I love that we had no agenda other than to create music we loved.”
amNewYork spoke with Cunniff about the group’s new album “Magic Hour” in advance of Luscious Jackson’s show at Webster Hall.
How did the idea for a reunion start?We had done some children’s music together, and that re-instigated the whole process of creating a new album. Now, we’ve got two albums out at the same time. … We’ll be doing a lot of the classics and favorites. We have such a huge catalog now that we can really pick our best songs, the ones that work best live.
Where, in terms of Luscious Jackson’s back catalog, does “Magic Hour” fit in?People have compared the new album to our very first album, “In Search of Manny.” Both were done with no corporate intervention. There’s a spontaneity that we reconnected to, something we were working with when we started. We were just having fun. And for this one, there were no expectations. But we’re the same artists, we just found something that was really essential.
In the 14 years since “Electric Honey,” you’ve released a solo album and worked on other projects. Was there a readjustment period after getting the band back together?
The general feeling was indescribable. It was this primal feeling. It gives you this little jolt. It was such a positive feeling of reconnecting, and reconnecting with a part of ourselves that had been disconnected from.
