JUNGLE are bringing Sunshine to summer – and entering their most confident era yet.
Following the unexpected global success of their 2023 album Volcano, the Brit-winning band return with a warmer, more organic fifth album, blending Brazilian rhythms, effortless grooves and nostalgia.
And the trio — Tom McFarland, Josh “J” Lloyd and regular contributor turned full-time member Lydia Kitto — might have called their fifth album Sunshine, but its warmth comes with a distinctly melancholic edge.
“It’s not about the weather or a season,” Lloyd explains. “It’s about relationships and distance and regret, and hope and longing for a better time.”
McFarland adds: “Everyone feels nostalgic about that summer when they were 16. Those emotional memories linger with us.
“Even the idea of memory is quite melancholic, because these great things happened, but they’ll never happen again.
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“You can recall them and remember how you felt, but that moment has gone.”
It’s day one of live rehearsals for Jungle when I join them at their studio in South West London.
Lloyd and Kitto have not long flown in from LA while dad-of-three McFarland is telling stories about his kids.
Despite the jet lag and the busy day ahead, the trio are as warm and easy-going as the title of their new album suggests.
Their new confidence follows the unexpected success of Volcano and its breakout song, Back On 74, in particular.
“That song was a big surprise,” says McFarland with a smile. “It went far bigger than we expected.
“We thought there was a certain level we could reach, but what happened with Back On 74 opened up a whole new dimension for the band.
“It brought so many more people to the music, and that has been a really cool thing to see.
“When we were in the middle of it, we didn’t pay too much attention. We don’t chase our own tails wondering whether we’re popular.
“You give the song away and hand it over to the public.
“The more you listen to the noise, the more you start to be directed by it.
“We were very keen not to think, ‘People like Back On 74, so let’s make a whole album like that’, because that’s where bands lose their way.”
Dance and striking visuals have always been central to Jungle’s story, with their cinematic, intricately choreographed videos becoming as distinctive as the music itself.
Their dazzling performance of Back On 74, which brought the celebrated video to life with a full dance troupe, was one of the highlights of the 2024 Brit Awards.
Their Group Of The Year win that night came as a genuine surprise, and Kitto says: “We didn’t have a clue.
“Loads of people were acting a bit fishy, so we were thinking, ‘Have we won? Haven’t we?’
“We thought we should probably write a speech just in case, but then decided there was no way we were going to win.
“So we sat down, had a bit of a drink and suddenly we’d won.”
McFarland adds: “We had a great night — we met Green Day, we got quite drunk and had a party.
“When you’re touring, you miss out on so many things, so being able to get family and friends in the same room and just have a dance was special.”
Lloyd adds: “Winning was a surprise as we don’t really pay that much attention to it.”
Jungle’s visual influence has proved equally powerful.
“What’s been really nice is seeing people make the choreography their own and connect with the visual side of the band,” says Lloyd.
“We’re obviously not a TikTok-generation band, but watching it blow up online was really cool.
“Seeing young kids dancing to our music in their living rooms was such a lovely thing.”
Lloyd co-directs the band’s distinctive, intricately choreographed videos with long-term visual collaborator Charlie Di Placido.
He adds: “You can see people, especially in advertising, starting to copy the band’s aesthetic.
“We’ve seen plenty of imitations of our videos and visual style, but I suppose we take it as a form of flattery. It shows that people have been inspired by what we do.”
Carry On was chosen by the band’s manager as the first single from Sunshine.
Lloyd says: “Once you’ve finished an album, you lose all perspective. You have so many different favourites, so you need an outside opinion to guide you through that final stage.
“Carry On has an old-school Motown, almost Sixties sound.
“It’s almost Jungle’s folk song, but it has a sadder emotional heart.
“Back On 74 is nostalgic, while Carry On is about overcoming heartbreak, rebuilding trust and finding the self-belief to push through difficult times.”
McFarland says affectionately: “My daughter loves this song — she walks around the kitchen singing it.”
Central to Jungle’s recent evolution has been Kitto, whose gorgeous, soulful vocals have become increasingly prominent across their music.
Having contributed to the band since their 2021 album Loving In Stereo and taken a leading role on Volcano, she is now an official member of the trio and steps further into the spotlight on Sunshine.
“Joining the band fully made sense,” she says. “I already felt so involved that I was sort of in Jungle anyway, so it was a natural progression.
“It’s like getting into a relationship with somebody — you hang out for a while and then think, ‘Oh yeah, this works’.” Lloyd — Kitto’s partner and her bandmate in music side project Loaded Honey — adds: “I don’t think people realise how long Lydia has been working with us.
“We’d been doing sessions and writing with her since before the third album, and then she joined the live band.
“Jungle had been built around group vocals for so long, but we were yearning for an emotional lead vocalist who could take these verses and connect with people.
“Lydia has that ability. She’s got a generational voice — an amazing soul vocal that takes our music to the next level.”
McFarland says: “We’ve always tried to create a universal message through the stories we tell.
“We were never going to be a band that told extremely personal stories.
“For us, it’s about giving people something they can hold on to and make their own. We want the music to have a global sound
that anybody can connect with. From day one, when we were making the first Jungle music, it was all about visiting imagined places we’d never been to.
“We’ve been lucky enough to visit many of them since, but at the start we’d ask, ‘What would it sound like if a band were playing on Cola Beach in South Goa?’
“We’ve always had that vision of putting ourselves — and therefore the listener — into a physical space.
“The Wave is a perfect example of that. You’re instantly on a beach.”
Lloyd adds: “We tend to see certain songs as brothers and sisters.
“The Wave harks back to Loving In Stereo and has something of Beat 54 from the second album in it.
“It has that sampled feel, although we created the sample ourselves. Originally it was much faster, before we slowed it down.
“It was actually the last song made for the album and was almost squeezed in at the end. There was something spiritual about it.
“The Wave represents the idea that you only get one life, so you have to be careful what you do with it.”
Romeo II is another one of those sibling songs, following Romeo from Loving In Stereo and again featuring Dreamville rapper Bas.
Lloyd says: “Romeo II was Bas’s idea. The track originally had a much longer title, but we wanted something more interesting.
“He suggested Romeo II, which felt great because it creates a sense of nostalgia for people who know the original.
“I think he was also referencing the tradition in hip-hop of songs having sequels.
“It gives the track an instant familiarity — people think, ‘I remember that Bas song from the third album, so I want to hear this one’.
“In some ways, Romeo II is actually even more Romeo in its subject matter than the original.”
And he jokes: “Bas has been on the last three albums — he’s going to join the band at some point.”
Lloyd continues: “We have always been inspired by Gorillaz and the way their collaborators became part of the family.
“You look at Del the Funky Homosapien on that first Gorillaz record and he appears across a couple of tracks. We’ve never viewed features as a way of gaming the system or chasing streams.
“For us, it’s always been about asking who’s good, who’s our friend and who feels like they genuinely belong within the collective.”
Talk turns to bands who put out greatest-hits albums.
Kitto says: “We could just do the same thing again and again and call it a greatest hits, like The 1975 do. They put out all their old songs and call it The 1975 At Their Very Best. There are no new songs at all.”
Jungle’s recent single Someday, Somewhere might just be the best song they have released, with its sun-soaked vocals, irresistible disco-funk groove and bittersweet blend of optimism and longing.
“I love that song,” says Kitto. “I can put it on at any point, and it changes your mood.”
For McFarland, Reflection is a favourite. “I love that song,” he says. “What I connect with is the way a song can transport you. When I’m driving in the sunshine, I’ll listen to Crosby, Stills and Nash radio and classic Laurel Canyon songs.
“Reflection does that for me. It takes me very vividly into a particular physical and emotional space.”
Lloyd says: “It depends on the day. We become very emotionally attached to the songs while we’re making and delivering them, but once they’re out, I tend to detach myself.
“Where Are You Now? was one of my favourites. I like the bouncier side of Jungle, but I also tend to choose the song that other people aren’t picking.
“If everyone likes one track, I’ll go for the other one.”
Soon it’s back to rehearsals for the trio’s world tour, beginning in the States next month, then heading to Europe and South America next year.
What matters most in a Jungle live show?
“The arc of the show is really important to us,” answers McFarland. “We want to build the audience up, pull things back again and create intimate moments alongside the more euphoric ones.
“I don’t think I’d ever get bored of playing Busy Earnin’ because it’s so much fun watching people have a great time.
“You see grandparents, their children and then their grandchildren, sometimes as young as six, all there together. It’s fun watching loads of people having a great time.”
Lloyd adds: “We want to be in control and make things according to our own vision.
“We’ve done well within the industry by not having to play by other people’s rules.
“Other artists have looked at what we’ve done and built careers from it.
“But we’ve only ever written our own narrative, and I think that’s really important as an artist to have the ability to fully be in control of your own story.”
- The album Sunshine is out on August 14. The band’s UK tour begins in Leeds in November.
JUNGLE
Sunshine