The English duo lets the voice of their new addition, Lydia Kitto, shine on an island-drenched and sunlit record meant for dancing.
From the instant you click play to listen to Sunshine on a computer, the disc crackles and takes a moment to get going. As if Jungle wanted to press on a texture from the past, without any nostalgia, and transport us into another time and space. We trust them.
At their beginnings in 2013, J Loyd (Josh Loyd-Watson) and Tom McFarland, the masterminds behind the London-origin group, kept the mystery alive by renaming themselves with only the initials “J” and “T.” Thirteen years later, the duo still plays with its shadow, erasing their voices across the albums that punctuate their career, to become producers and let Lydia Kitto’s singing shine, their new recruit since 2023.
An album that grooves from start to finish
The pair still deliver harmonies in the Bee Gees style, or in the Daft Punk vein, and the record revolves around that warm, Jungle-esque gimmick, infused with French Touch as much as with soul and funk. The somewhat slick house side may, indeed, prove irritating. Yet Jungle has always satisfied us with its abundant resources. And Sunshine does not escape that rule; the album, with its island vibe, grooves from start to finish.
From the soulful voice on Come Back to Me, to The Wave which nods to the Brazilian scene of the sixties and seventies, Romeo II drawing on hip-hop, and Someday, Somewhere with its faux-hymn energy to the Parcels, this record is a genuine pleasure to carry the summer’s pause forward.
Sunshine (Caiola Records/Awal). Released on August 14. In concert at the Accor Arena, Paris, on October 30.
<section class="col-12 no-padding">
<div class="advertise ads-container ads-Banniere-Basse" data-formatid="Banniere-Basse">
<div class="ads-placeholder"></div>
<div class="js-ads ads-core-placer" id="ad-BanniereBasse" data-ads-core="{" type>
</div>
</div>
</section>
</div>