One of the first CDs that Tom McFarland managed to have in his London childhood, spoke of a Latin energy, very far from Europe. It was the classic album of Buena Vista Social Club(1997). An interest that somehow defined the musician’s open ear and explains much of the Latin percussion heard in Come Back to Me, the song that opens Sunshine, Jungle’s new album.
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“I think we have always listened to a lot of Latin music”, says McFarland connected by video call to Culto. So those rhythms are very emotional, very human, and I think those elements of inspiration have always been inside us. But yes, maybe now unconsciously they are becoming more prominent. Maybe we are just looking for a different kind of rhythm in our music right now.”
McFarland raised Jungle together with his childhood friend Josh Lloyd-Watson. They added a few years ago the singer Lydia Kitto, who was a regular collaborator. “It’s just a nice happy collective”, defines the musician “I think we had a great time making this album.”
With its eleven songs, Sunshine summarizes the festive spirit of the album and the warm sound of its framework of beats, soul-inspired voices and good musical production work. Hence the title. “I think we like the idea that it feels elemental. Sunshine is a well-rounded album, it feels more comforting. You know, like a warm sun on your body; I think that’s more or less where it came from. This started as an idea last year, we started and more or less finished it by the end of February, March.”
The first song they worked on was Reflection, which was material that had been around for a while. According to McFarland the intention was to work fast. “I think that was important for us because you can get stuck doing things for too long, overediting and that turns into something that feels unnatural at that point. So yes, we just wanted to make the album quickly and have fun.”
The eleven tracks sound fresh and do not relent in their danceable character. Something that was clear with the advance singles; about Carry On, McFarland explains that they felt it was a good introduction. While The Wave was considered a good summary of the album and Someday Somewhere became one of the project’s favorites, “that’s why we wanted it to have its own little moment before the whole album came out.”
With 4 albums already released, Jungle still sounds very fresh. Their music does not seem to have any pretension other than proposing a look at various styles in pop song format. For McFarland there is no formula when creating. “I think it’s because we enjoy it and don’t feel like we’re repeating ourselves. We don’t feel under pressure to recreate a certain song or a certain sound,” he explains.
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That is why for the cover they maintain Jungle’s usual style of privileging designs based only on a specific color and the project’s name. Nothing else. Thus, the cover of Loving in Stereo (2021) is white, For Ever (2018) is golden and Sunshine is a defined brown.
“It’s a concept. There is a general artistic concept that defines this group and I think it would be very cool that in 20, 30 years, you have all the covers on the wall and they are all the same, and only defined by color and font. Maybe we will run out of colors we really like at some point, I feel like we are getting there little by little.”
And a key to understanding the album’s material, again, lies in the openness to listen to others’ music without prejudice. “I love driving and listening to music in my car”, says the musician. “I love having a kind of constant soundtrack for my life. If it’s sunny I will listen to a certain type of music, or if it’s dark I will listen to another type, if it’s raining another type, because it simply amplifies the atmosphere you are in, I find that very cool. I think we are always listening to everything, our musical taste is quite free of genres. I try to listen to music as much as possible a song that surprised me? As It Was, by Harry Styles, is an incredible song, really. And I think it is very underrated, I mean, obviously people will say, ‘Oh, no, this is the damn As it Was or Watermelon Sugar, but it has a maturity. When pop music is really at its best, it’s when it feels like the artist is really being honest with you and true to themselves, but still very understandable and translatable for many people at the same time.”
It’s not just about listening to music and defining colors. The musicians have learned to adapt to their life moments. “Life changes and we no longer live in the same cities as each other – points out McFarland -. I have a family and Josh doesn’t, so my priorities are different. The time I can dedicate to doing things is different from his. So it has definitely become a different process.”
The warm voice of Lydia Kitto sounds on the album, who went from collaborating regularly to being the project’s singer and lyricist. Her work allows McFarland and Lloyd-Watson to decipher when they have a potential song in hand. “She is an incredible instrument, an incredible voice, a really great writer. She is also amazing with vocal harmony and chords. We know when we are doing something good because she starts singing great things on top. And then we say, ‘Okay, this is great, let’s record that and then see what happens’.”
Jungle has already performed in Chile. They debuted in 2015 in a show at the Bellavista Events Center and have also been at the local edition of Lollapalooza. Now they are preparing a new visit to the country as part of their Latin American tour that will also take them to Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina. The meeting is scheduled for April 3, 2027, at the Movistar Arena, a venue where they already played in 2022. “The first time we played in Santiago was in a small club and then we ended up playing at the Movistar Arena, that’s pretty crazy – says McFarland -. I love Santiago, I think it’s a great city. I love cities that are surrounded by mountains. The architecture is very cool, it feels like a semi-computer-generated city, because you have beautiful nature along with modern architecture, big skyscrapers and then mountains. Also, the way the light falls in that part of the world is like this kind of dusty sunlight. We’ve always had a great time and the fans have always been very cool. So yes, looking forward to coming back for sure.”
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