On Jungle’s fourth album, ‘Volcano’, you get the sense the band have finally nailed down their sound. The London duo – Tom McFarland and Josh Lloyd-Watson – are emblematic of where the music industry and listeners find themselves: engaging in a little bit of everything, but not too much of one thing in particular. On ‘Volcano’, genres, scenes and sounds are whizzed together and go down like a sickly-sweet cocktail at a hazy happy hour in the heights of summer; don’t taste it, just feel it, you know?
It presents a clear through-line in their work, one where soulful beats and percussion sidle up to distorted, sped-up vocals – it makes for a pleasing sonic concoction. Where their first two albums ‘Jungle’ (2014), and particularly the overwrought ‘For Ever’ (2018) could be unwieldy, they righted the ship with the sprawling ‘Loving In Stereo’ (2021), which featured advert-ready ‘Keep Moving’ and experimented with features. Following its release, they sold-out a residency at London’s Brixton Academy. Later this month, they return with a headline show at the capital’s All Points East and their biggest-ever US tour, which includes a stop at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Speaking to NME, the band say that their work with Inflo – alleged mastermind behind mysterious neo-soul collective SAULT – inspired how they approached their recent work. “It’s all about the vibe and the flow,” Lloyd said. “A song is normally there in two hours, and it doesn’t need to be more complicated than that”.
That much is obvious: ‘Volcano’ certainly isn’t overstuffed with ideas. Often, the uniformity in this approach – muddy vocal line that could be a chopped-up classic, and a minimal but effective bassline – mean that several of the songs meld together, struggling to stand out. For all the bells and whistles, their work can be hollow at its core: ‘Us Against The World’ wastes its rhythmic potential with a limp repetition of its title.
But when they get it right, it’s hard to deny how hard it hits. ‘Candle Flame’’s central refrain channels The Avalanches’ banger ‘Since I Left You’, and ‘I’ve Been In Love’ utilises the seductive vocals of Compton-raised artist Channel Tres. 2022’s ‘Problemz’ finds a neat home in ‘Volcano’s collection, as does the disco-stomp of ‘Palm Trees’ which houses a sparkling Italo-Disco feel.
We still know little about the men behind the record, and given they arrived anonymously amidst fevered hype in 2013, that comes as little surprise. But that hesitancy does something of a disservice to the soul music they worship and lift from here on ‘Volcano’. That scene demands an element of human touch – how else can you truly believe in those earth-shattering and emotional standards? That connectivity appears to remain elusive for Jungle.
Details
- Release date: August 11, 2023
- Record label: Caiola Records/AWAL