Videos for the advance singles from Jungle’s brilliant third album – Volcano – all show brief snatches of the Mercury-shortlisted producer duo in a Seventies-style, teak wood-pannelled office. Their backs are to the camera, a coil of smoke rises from an ashtray as they gaze over a vintage mixing desk and reel-to-reel machine at a bank of chunky old television sets like budget Bond villains. Their dancers and collaborators (including Roots Manuva, Erick the Architect and Channel Tres) all pop up on screens as smoothly convex as the curved notes that slip from the record’s funk flutes and guitars.
From the deep, knee-bending bass plunges of opener “Us Against the World” to the trippy-sweet, Pearl’n’Dean-on-helium harmonies of closer “Pretty Little Things” (featuring Bas), the Volcano vibe is pure, hair-down afterparty. It finds old friends Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland no longer forcing themselves into the singing frontmen roles they say they’ve found uncomfortable in the past. Instead, they’re kicking back and curating their super-cool, retro-electro-soul from behind the scenes. Taking the pressure off has allowed them to be more relaxed, letting their stylishly engineered music roll, spin, twist and recline like those designer swivel chairs. It’s a playful, freeing mood that translates to the listening experience, encouraging you to dance like nobody’s watching.
