Album Review: Jungle - Jungle

From the opening vocal sample and police sirens that swirl in the background of The Heat, you find yourself thrown onto the streets by Jungle. And the sounds are authentic – field recordings of London life pressed to wax – so it's hard to deny the inner city energy that rises within these songs, much like steam through a manhole cover.

J (Josh Lloyd-Watson) and T (Tom McFarland), the British co-conspirators that have created Jungle, have given us a debut album that plays out like a soundtrack for a '70s blaxploitation film. The high-end male/female harmonies, the dramatic keys and guitars, the flick bass that seems to react to the brass surrounding it – it all works together so fluidly to create these empowering, emotional jams. But it's the found sounds that really make you want to dive into this full-length: the chimes blowing in the wind during Platoon, water and birds swirling and swelling during Lucky I Got What I Want, what sounds like spoons hitting bottles on Julia. And as for the more traditional percussive elements buried into the tracks, you'll be digging for ages just to discover them all.

The air of mystery surrounding Jungle is too enticing to avoid, but it's the depth and creativity found on this record which is truly exciting. It's a brand new album that feels like it's been lived in a lifetime: smooth tunes demanding smooth moves, deserving of the finest cognac, hundreds of burning candles and your most stylish Saturday night threads.