Jungle is a name you may not be familiar with because since releasing their self-entitled debut album back in 2014 with XL Records, the London-based band has only released a string of singles including the hit track ‘Julia’ which has accumulated over 3.3 million hits on YouTube. However, they have returned this month with a handful of gigs around the UK.
The 7-piece group was playing in The Invisible Wind Factory last week as part of Liverpool’s Music Week 2017. Various artists such as Mount Kimbie and CHIC ft Nial Rodgers have already smashed their shows across different venues around the city centre with Everything Everything set to perform at the Closing Party at the University of Liverpool’s Guild of Students.
The stage was decked out with a mass of different percussion instruments and synthesizers as well as guitars, drums, and bass guitars. It was already obvious that Jungle was going to put on a great show and they did not disappoint…
All dressed in white, Jungle emerged from their smoky backdrop to a rupture of claps, whoops and whistles. The music started slowly before bursting into their debut single, ‘Platoon’ which was released back in 2014.
I was initially slightly sceptical about how Jungle would pull off their incredibly funky, retro sound live, but they did it with class and style. They have been compared to bands like Glass Animals, FKA Twigs, and Aluna George and supported HAIM on their tour after the release of their first single. Their music has been described as a ‘kaleidoscopic modern soul’ which sounds pretty difficult to pull off live but their show was amazing.
The crowd went nuts when the first bars of ‘Busy Earnin’’ blared through the speakers. Also released in 2014, their second single reached number 19 in the UK Indie Chart and has over 45 million streams on Spotify. At this point, frontmen Tom McFarland and Josh Lloyd-Watson took a moment to introduce the band while the rifts of the track still played in the background.
As the crowd continued to dance, the venue goes dark and the only thing visible is the silhouette of several people on their friend’s shoulders against the ‘JUNGLE’ lights on the stage. Almost immediately, ‘one more song!’ started getting shouted as everyone tried to rattle their brains about what song they hadn’t played yet… The band started clicking their fingers in unison and that could only mean that their encore song was ironically titled, ‘Time’.
If you didn’t get a chance to see them this time, I would highly recommend grabbing tickets for their London show on the 15th November at Electric Brixton in London before they embark on their tour of the US, Canada, and Australia.
Although they only have one self-titled debut album, Jungle is an incredibly unique band that is well worth listening to! Every track makes you want to dance and will leave you humming for the rest of the day – hopefully another album will be in the pipeline very soon but in the meantime check out the video for their debut single ‘Platoon’ and keep up to date with the band.