Named after the classic novel by Upton Sinclair, The Jungle is the electronic funk brainchild of Troy Jagan. Aided by Dave Schurman and Josh Orion, the band has just released their debut EP, Wild Things. The Jungle takes the most eccentric sides of artists like Toro Y Moi and Prince and siphons it into their own hazy, wandering creations.
There’s a wonderfully dreamy quality to their sound. It’s as if you played Prince at one end of a long wind tunnel and listened to it from the other end. Yes, a lot of it is ambient, but it’s as if it’s only ambient from straining any superfluous qualities of funk and electronic, leaving the purest, permeated essence behind. The vocals pass by so lightly they’re just as intangible as trying to grasp at a gentle breeze and instruments weave in and out as if they’re merely memories, but they’re simultaneously so irresistibly catchy.
The clearest evidence of why this all works is their song “Firewalk”—the closest thing to a traditional club song—is actually the only one that doesn’t work as well. Unfortunately, the addition of flutes make it sound like something one would except to hear in the background of the Weather Channel, but there’s still enough interesting eccentricities and patented style to make it enjoyable enough.
Among the four tracks here, it’s almost all solid, but “Black Rose” is the best and most fully visualized song here. Wild Things is now available from the band.
