Jungle

Jungle. Are. Awesome.

A seven piece hailing from London, they popped their head out from under the covers of obscurity in 2014 with a self titled album that was [like a lot of great new things] a meld of a few different genres that they then made their own.

Described by Wikipedia as ‘mid tempo 1970’s-style funk’… its hard to argue with. But what they’ve done with it is to bring it into a modern framework that makes me wanna chuck on my Adidas trackies, throw some flour over the kitchen floor and dance up a storm.

I expect its the same in every family or group of friends where certain albums or artists will grab the attention of the entire group and become something of an anthem to what that family needs in their life. This was something very much like that for our family. There is such a joy to this bands music that its become one of my go-to artists when I don’t know what to listen to, but I know I want to not come out the other side feeling angry, overwhelmed, sad or like I just need to eat three bags of M&M’s to make myself feel right again.

As much as we all kind of assume what a seven piece band would look like, these dudes seem to work like a well oiled machine. The two founding members Josh & Tom, are both vocals and neither seem to be more prominent than the other. Its like the vocals for the band are always the harmonic result of both of them singing together. Its awesome and something that isn’t often seen. Especially in a group as popular as these guys.

Then you get the makeup of the band which is a beautiful blend of that 70’s soul sound [I think this is because they rely heavily on horns] with an electronic outer shell that tastes like always seems to be searching for its own happy place. …and it fucking finds it. Time and time again.

They only have two albums to date. One in 2014 and the second in 2018. And to be frank, you could mix and match any of the tracks and you wouldn’t know. Actually you would because if you listen to them a bucketload *raises hand* you can tell how they’ve become a little more polished. Its weird too though because when a great band has a great debut album, there seems to be this idea that the second has to be better. Hence the constant battle bands continually have with their sophomore album.

Me?…I’m a big fan of duplicating what you did in the first to help cement you as a contender and then depending on how things go from there, you adjust accordingly. Which is why I was over the moon when I heard their second album ‘For Ever’.

One of the best tings about these guys [and one of the main reasons I became aware of them in the first place] was their ability to match a music video with their music. They know what they’re trying to achieve and they know what listeners want do when they hear it [Flour meet kitchen. Kitchen….flour.] So they essentially have created dance routines for half a dozen songs off each album and made them into the music videos.

…and they’re AMAZING!

Don’t get me wrong…I love a weird arsed music video that tells a narrative about the artists story. But there is something really easy about watching a crew of dancers do what they do best to amazing music and filmed beautifully. If you’re ever stuck for something to watch, go their Youtube channel and watch their music videos. I have done it many times because watching sick dancers doing sick dancing is something that never gets old.

So, knowing that my writing skills are a little rusty and telling a story about some music that I think is worth listening to may take some time to get back into the gist of, I would like to finish by telling you a really sad [but hilarious] story.

Apparently, Jungle are spectacular live. I say apparently because they came to Melbourne for a live gig at the Forum last year and my beautiful wife and I thought we’d splurge to go see them. We were building up to see them for months. Listening. Talking. Dancing. All up until the day. *I’m shaking my head just thing about it*.

For some reason we thought they were playing on a Monday night. Even had it in our diaries as the Monday. So, the morning of, we call just to check some details and I can not tell you the feeling one gets when the silence on the other end of the phone extends out to over 5 seconds [thats a little too long when you’re asking about a gig you’re supposed to be going to] and then her first words were “Umm…but they were on last night”.

My heart literally sunk through the floor.

So I’ll leave you with this. When you find music you love, don’t question it. the reasons you love it will come later [or not]. If that music finds its way to your city, go see it because you never remember the money you spent on it, but you always remember the gig. And finally…always [always] double check the date. Because if you don’t, the story of how you missed the gig will last longer than the actual memory of said gig.

Find room in your life to dance.

Your body needs it.

…especially now.

M/