"For a recent series of sold-out shows in Europe and New York City, J and T have dilated to a seven-person live band that features some chops and muscle, but at the root of their 12-track self-titled debut for XL, Jungle retains the constricts of the original duo of producers Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland. Throughout their first album, they favor the bantamweight soul reminiscent of early '80s British acts like Imagination, Fun Boy Three, I-Level and Fine Young Cannibals, to name but a few. But it’s the group’s sense of simple, dance-focused visuals that have attained a certain level of buzz. Peel back those effective visuals and their sonic palette is rather confectionary: pliant bass, simple 4/4 beats, spindling guitar. Sometimes the synths that underpin the tracks are frothy, other times airy, in a few instances bubbly, but they are almost impossible to differentiate from track to track. The synthesized horns and eddying synth washes of “Busy Earnin’” are a nice garland for a track that laments the self-centeredness of being “Too busy earning/ Can’t get enough.”
Too often, Jungle’s shimmering surfaces belie the flimsiness of the songs themselves, which buckle under any sort of weight. Take opener “The Heat”, a catchy, light funk number which manages to shoehorn in three separate “heat” references in under 10 seconds: actual temperature, sexual intensity, and the police (via a sample of wailing sirens). It’s the image of the roller-skating b-boys in matching tracksuits in the song's video, and not the song itself, that leaves a lasting impression."
- Andy Beta. pitchfork.com
