SINGAPORE — Jungle is back bigger, bolder, and more ambitious than ever, ready to surpass its billion streams, two Top 10 albums, and a Mercury Prize nomination, with their eagerly anticipated third album, ‘Loving In Stereo’.
‘Loving In Stereo’ is a dynamic disco record with a dancefloor-igniting celebration of all the things that make music irresistibly fun. This new era in the Jungle story is further fuelled by the duo simultaneously channelling a distinctive pop immediacy and significantly broadening the scope of their sound.
The result is an album that will take Jungle into the upper reaches of charts all over the world, as their modernist disco-rooted pop introduces them to a massive new audience. They have already become sought after collaborators by some of the world’s biggest artists, as evidenced by their recent Diplo collab “Don’t Be Afraid” and their newly announced dates supporting Billie Eilish on her ‘Happier Than Ever’ tour in June 2022.
Jungle shares, “We learned to capture the energy of the moment as best as possible without overthinking it. We also realized that our previous albums had a laidback swagger and had never pushed the tempo beyond 120bpm, so this whole level of energy was missing, like we had had a glass ceiling over the project. Our main goal was to let go of perfection and embrace how energetic and real our music could be.”
Energetic and real are the first words that come to mind when you hear their huge summer singles “Truth”, “Keep Moving” and “Talk About It”. The world has embraced this new supercharged version of Jungle.
“Romeo” represents Jungle’s first ever feature collaboration with rapper Bas. Hitting it off immediately, they regrouped several months later when Bas joined them in London, where they created “Romeo” – a charismatic, old school hip-hop track that captures the spirit of togetherness and catalyses the sound of the record.
The sessions at The Church cultivated an exuberant, live-in-the-moment ambience that you can hear in “Keep Moving”, the nostalgic yet post-modern “All Of The Time” and the avant-funk/post-punk attack of “What D’You Know About Me?”. The album also bursts into sounds that we haven’t heard from Jungle before, with “Fire” as a case in point. The track’s hard-hitting drum breaks provide the foundations for an exploration of sonics which are intriguingly impossible to pinpoint. “Truth” goes further still, with a driving Motorik rhythm, punk-infused energy and uplifting vocal harmonies.
And Jungle save the best for last with “Can’t Stop The Stars”. Intricately detailed with strings, brass and woodwind, it is a cinematically scaled, sky bound composition with a modest message of “trying to free yourself from the unrealistic expectations we all have of ourselves and ultimately being able to live a more happy and fulfilled life as a result.”
Jungle’s attention-grabbing videos have always been hugely engaging, but this time they’re taking that approach to new heights as JFC Productions (Charlie Di Placido and J) have directed a video for every single track on the album. And as their recent videos have hinted at, they all form part of a wider narrative that will become clear as each one is unveiled – adding a new layer of depth to the physicality, startling movement and blend of urban locations with street style that have become essential hallmarks of Jungle’s visual aesthetic.
In celebration of the new album, the duo also dropped the music video for track “All of the Time”:
In their career to date, Jungle have performed in multiple continents, headlining shows from Kuala Lumpur to Moscow, while also winning new fans at festivals such as Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza.
So many fans have fallen in love with the outpouring of joy and energy that Jungle’s renowned live experience delivers. Those qualities surge through the speakers at almost every moment of ‘Loving In Stereo’ – and imagine the scenes when they’re finally able to tour again. Propelled by the pulse-raising rush of pushing the BPM through the ceiling, the album finds life-long friends J and T (they had previously collaborated together on “Casio”, the most streamed track (50 million+) from their second album ‘For Ever’.) going back to their roots, making music for the sheer enjoyment of it and following their instincts.
Check out the “Loving In Stereo” album below: