Volcano by Jungle

I had no expectation that when I first heard Jungle in 2018 (For Ever, #28 in 2018) that they’d have the staying power to not only kick out another, even better album (Loving in Stereo, #15 last year), but they still had another notch on the dial to turn to. Volcano, Jungle’s fourth album, is by far their best yet. They keep growing, keep surprising the listener.

Jungle are two London-based producers, Josh Lloyd-Watson (“J”), and Tom McFarland (“T”), backed by a sea of singers and musicians who are in turn backed by a sea of fans who can’t possibly sit still while Jungle are playing music. Since their first self-titled album in 2014, the band has been making the most consistently good dance music out there. Volcano was released two days shy of a year after their previous album — by far the fastest the band has ever written, recorded, and released a record. They actually wrote the album while touring for the previous album. It’s exciting to think when I saw the band perform as one of the headliners at Thing in 2022, they were busy writing an even better album in the in-between times.

In addition to releasing phenomenal music, the band tends to create videos heavy with choreographed groups of dancers performing feats no normal human should be capable of. For Volcano, J & T teamed up with choreographer Shay Latukolan to create a video for each song from the albumL: Volcano – A Motion Picture. The videos string together to show the 50-minute broadcast of a local television station (which has J & T in the broadcast booth, naturally) showing different formations of dance and rhythm and loose storytelling. The songs are each single, long takes, with 18 dancers playing off each other and moving with the camera. Nothing is ever resting or standing still, and it’s all so closely orchestrated. It’s mesmerizing. Dancers Will West and Mette Linturi most often take the leads in the short stories shown in each video, but the other 16 dancers are every bit as good as they are. The amount of work that must have gone into planning, rehearsing, (dancers and stage production) and then filming these one-long-take videos is mind-blowing.

I’ve said it before, and I guess I’ll keep saying it well into the future: Jungle makes you move. Watch the video above, for the great song “Back on 74,” or better yet, just watch the full movie, and dance along.