The title track on Sunshine builds its groove out of keys that sound almost eight-bit, a strange little choice buried inside the most straightforwardly summery song Jungle have ever written.
This is Jungle’s fifth album, the second since Lydia Kitto became an official member alongside founders Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland rather than just a featured vocalist. The last time out, 2023’s Volcano, won the trio a BRIT Award for Group of the Year and turned ‘Back on ’74’ into one of the decade’s defining British singles.
Opener ‘Come Back To Me’ sets the tone with a retro intro that bursts into a groove built for a Copacabana afternoon, Kitto’s vocal held back until the second verse rather than leading from the front. ‘The Wave’ leans further into that same instinct, pulling its rhythm from 1960s and 70s Brazilian music rather than the band’s usual funk and disco reference points. ‘Where Are You Now?’ stacks several vocal takes on top of each other without the arrangement ever actually feeling crowded.
Not everything here needs that much polish to work. The title track is the clearest example: every transition mixed so smooth it never actually surprises you, which is also the one thing missing from an otherwise unpredictable record.
‘Reflection’ pulls that feeling back. Kitto sings plainly about her own doubts and flaws over a chorus that keeps circling back rather than resolving. Closer ‘Heavy On My Soul’ goes quieter still, one last vocal showcase built around chasing a sun that keeps setting just out of reach.
Eleven tracks, thirty-odd minutes, barely a wasted one among them. Sunshine isn’t reinventing what Jungle do. It’s just proving that an eight-bit riff or a genuinely uncertain verse can still sneak into a sound this settled, without anyone really noticing until the second listen.
