Review Summary: tropical disco
Jungle are cool. It's as if they've reached through a portal into the 1970's and wrenched the best elements of funk and disco music back into the 21st century to create some of the best modern grooves available for a new generation to sink their teeth into. Jungle are a 7 piece modern-soul band based in London and their self titled first album is a 39 minute journey into the past and it breathes life into a genre which had almost been left behind.
Jungle's main appeal has to be the vocals. Founding members Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland both sing for the band, and for the entire album they sing in unison, creating a combined voice which is a delicious vocal cocktail of Bon Iver, the Bee Gees and Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters.
Vocals aside, credit must be given to the other members of the band who build the disco backdrop for the album like a bearskin rug for the vocals to lay on. Synonymous with the name Jungle, there is a tropical feel to the instrumentation, mainly in the percussion, with the use of chimes and various clicks and clacs and also well placed splashes of tropical synth which adds a vibrancy and colour to the bands music.
The disco tracks on the album are all of such a high quality that it's difficult to pick a handful as standout tracks, however for me the stomping "Busy Earnin'" epitomises the vibe the band create on the album, with ultra-sexy slap bass cutting through the exotic drum beat in the verse, and a soaring brass-like synth melody in the chorus which is dangerously catchy. However, the album doesn't impress on the disco tracks alone, "Drops" is a much more chilled out affair, where the Bon Iver vocal comparison is most noticeable and the same goes for "Lucky I Got What I Want". These tracks allow the band to show some emotion which is hidden beneath the upbeat facade in some of the other tracks.
All in all, this album is a big sexy slice of the 70s which opens the door to a genre for fans of all music, and I absolutely recommend that you roller-skate through that door if you haven't already.
