New Albums
JUNGLE
Loving In Stereo
AWAL
7/10
Dance duo’s third album supplies some much-needed cheer
With dancefloors empty and fun a scarcity for so much of the past two years, Jungle’s characteristic exuberance takes on not just a curious urgency but a surprising weightiness, too. Of course, anything that exudes carefree good times may now feel awfully precious. In any case, Tom McFarland and Josh Lloyd-Watson’s well-trusted blend of neo-R&B, French Touch and retro-disco gains new zest on the duo’s third album thanks to stylistic detours into acid-jazz classiness (“Goodbye My Love” featuring Swiss-Sri Lankan R&B breakout Priya Ragu) and David Axelrod-style psych splendour (“No Rules”). Elsewhere the formula wears a little thinner, but few can dispute the irresistibility of “Talk About It”, a bigbeat banger that Norman Cook ought to envy.