Jungle

In 2014 Jungle seized an opening created by a scarcity of funk-tinged groups built around laid-back grooves, high-register singing, and mainstream goals. Their debut single “Busy Earnin’” triggered a self-titled album that climbed into the U.K. Top Ten. Once the Mercury Prize nomination arrived and early tracks from the next record surfaced, any initial novelty label had faded; the duo had instead become established artists on the prestigious XL Recordings roster. Their sonic range kept widening across the 2018 album For Ever, another Top Ten entry, followed by Loving in Stereo in 2021 and the 2023 Mercury Prize shortlisted Volcano.

Childhood friends Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland, first known simply as J and T, assembled the project in the first months of 2013 and moved quickly. Through the Chess Club label they issued their opening pair of singles that summer and fall—“Platoon” and “The Heat”—both built on hypnotic, unhurried dance rhythms. The eye-catching videos that accompanied them, one spotlighting the dance moves of six-year-old B-girl Terra and the other centering on a roller-skating duo, accumulated millions of views.

For live shows Lloyd-Watson and McFarland enlarged the lineup to seven members rather than perform laptop-based sets. Demand proved immediate: tickets for their debut London date, soon followed by further U.K. and international gigs, reportedly disappeared within twenty-four hours. Chosen for the BBC Sound of 2014 long list and signed to XL, the band delivered their biggest release yet that year with “Busy Earnin’,” which reached number 19 on the U.K. indie chart, and the self-titled debut album, which entered the main album chart’s Top Ten. A packed touring calendar included appearances at Glastonbury and Dour Festival plus a sold-out show at London’s Brixton Academy. Early in 2018, after performing at Mexico’s Trópico festival, they offered the drifting “House in L.A.” and the grooving “Happy Man” as the first singles from their second album, For Ever. Additional tracks preceded the September release, which peaked at number ten.

In 2019 Jungle curated a volume of the Back to Mine series, selecting cuts by BadBadNotGood and Sault alongside “Come Back a Different Day,” a track previously exclusive to the Japanese edition of For Ever. After recording throughout 2020 at their own studio and London’s The Church Studios, the group returned in 2021 with “Keep Moving,” the lead single from their third album. Loving in Stereo, their first release on Caiola Records, arrived that August and featured songwriting input from Inflo plus guest spots by Bas and Priya Ragu. The duo opened 2022 with the standalone singles “Good Times” and “Problemz.” The latter appeared on the fourth album, Volcano, which earned a 2023 Mercury Prize shortlist and incorporated contributions from Erick the Architect, Channel Tres, Roots Manuva, Mood Talk, and Bas. Following the elevation of touring member Lydia Kitto, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, to full-time status, Jungle released the 2024 single “Let’s Go Back.”