Jungle: Volcano Review

 

 

I've been a massive fan of what Jungle is since the very beginning. Tom Cardy should have been talking about Jungle when he said "You're a million degrees, but still cool", but it's not like Jungle isn't lo-fi. They just aren't content to be so sleepy all the time about it. They are, however, content to remain laser focused on cultivating the Jungle sound, forever living in a steamy Miami street during the day and a steamy disco bar in the night. Strange, then, that they live in the UK, unable to withstand the LA heat (I'm sure that wasn't the primary reason, I'm just fitting their move to my rhetoric).

A friend of mine says if you've heard one Jungle song, you've heard them all. I don't particularly agree, but I think I'm more of a fan of loops, samples, and production. There's no denying that Volcano is following the path as tightly as they always have, but what's interesting is that the path does feel wider than it used to. Normally, expanding your sound will feel like you've either changed your direction or increased your flexibility. Volcano feels kind of the opposite to me: the diversity only seems to solidify their position in music. The step forward this time doesn't feel as large as it has in the past, but there's more confidence and bravado than ever, and that goes a long way towards the album still feeling like an improvement from time to time.

As their previous album showed an increased role for their background singers, the trend continues as J and T reduce their lead singing statuses. New band member Lydia Kitto doesn't feel new, though. She brings yet another sultry, steamy voice to their catalogue that doesn't fill a void so much as it melts right in. Do not mistake that for being unnoticeable, though. There's a reason Back on '74 has been such a monster hit for the group, and it's her (although that might also be because the dance crew has gone viral, but more on that later). 

There's some expanded sampling on this album, which for the past three albums has been intentionally used as little as possible. J and T have always wanted to play the music as live as they can, but to my knowledge don't lament loops in any way. That's more clear than ever here, as Don't Play, Candle Play, Problemz....everything has looping and samples featured in one way or another. Leaning into it here has been a good choice, as a lot of the songs benefit from how they interlock to conveyer-belt you from one motif to the next. Nothing's overly long, but some of the later loops do loop just a tad longer than they should. Big credit should be given that Don't Play feels foundationally like a Daft Punk song, instead of just borrowing the cliche vodocodings and Aerodynamic guitar distortions everyone does.

Jungle has had a little bit of an issue in the past when it comes to slowing things down for their version of a stripped-back song. The back half of For Ever had a few slow jams that felt half-baked, and it's nice to see them take care to avoid that here. The album isn't short by any means, so that could have been an easy area for them to stumble. There's a better breadth of track layering that relies more on tempo and volume to come to those same conclusions. Good at Breaking Hearts in particular brings the lo-fi very....lo...but keeps things nice and open sonically to avoid that previous tendency for flatness.

Rapping is back too, and once again it feels like it was there all along. J and T really must have felt like not singing, because with the addition of bandmates and featured artists, sometimes it feels more like a Gorillaz album. Bas is back, but I'm not quite as large of a fan of the work they assigned to him this time around. I've Been In Love is probably the strongest of the rap-focused songs, but nothing quite tops the bars Bas presented on the previous album's most insightful track. Here we get horny lines from Channel Tres. 

Jungle has always been their best when they're focusing on attitude anyway. No need to force it if it's not there...but at times the attitude feels like the only thing they've got going for them. The one-two punch of album openers Us Against the World and Holding On don't inspire confidence in what will follow them; a particularly (I hope intentionally) sour note in the leadoff and a frankly amateur DJ loop-job in the followup end up being the stars of the pair, and thus are "listenable" instead of head-bobbers.

I begin to be suspicious of their intent when songs like this come up, having watched the painful decline of early favorite band OKGO. There's no shame in having their truly fantastic dance crew perform for the full album, especially when some of the numbers are jaw droppingly good. Lead Choreographer Orienne Serveille found some really clever ways to accentuate different songs. I'm no critic of dance, but it's the best I've ever seen, and it's hard to listen to the album without thinking about the dance numbers that go along with them. Aaaaaaaand that's the issue: some of these songs are only good because of the dance number that goes along with it. The first two songs don't even have that great of a dance number comparatively (although still very good). It's hard to think of any other reason to justify having both Holding On and You Ain't No Celebrity or both Us Against The World and Coming Back making the cut.

When the loops work, though, they remind me just why Jungle will always make me excited. Back On 74 is fabulously constructed, as is Problemz, Candle Flame, I've Been In Love, Don't Play, and Palm Trees. I'll say it again: it's awesome how well and seamless it feels to go from the Calypso/Daft Punk inspired tracks to Rap or very Jazzy/LoFi numbers. Even when the songs don't stick around in my head as long, it doesn't feel like Jungle was struggling to make them work. Everything always feels like the bandmates were having the best time making their music. In that way, I'm a little thankful they shared the good, the ok, and the not-so-good stuff. There's no throughline and I can skip what I don't like without missing "the experience". Yeah, that means this won't go down as "yet another banger", but it could have been far worse. More Jungle will always be better than less Jungle.

7.5/10