Jungle

For Ever

A band this successful could have left their private lives uninvestigated and turned in something more guarded and rote, but the palpable honesty of these songs is what makes them soar.

While their self-titled played like a vibrant homage to the UK's underground scene, For Ever is Jungle's Hollywood album, both in scope and substance.

‘For Ever’ is a success - an invitation to fall in love with that Jungle world that pulled everyone close and daring to do more. This is how to be a band who don’t jump into the world around them, but creates their own orbit instead - ready to jump in?

For Ever might be occupied with the idea of false promises being broken but the meaningful lyrics and the always-fascinating blend of new and old soul, funk, electronic lounge, mean that Jungle themselves still live up to their hype, even if California doesn’t in their eyes.

Falsettos, grooves, glossy funk, it’s all still there, but there’s a substance to it all now.

Jungle remain impossibly slick on For Ever, which creates an enjoyable listen, but a little bit more soul would be welcome.

Just like their debut, there’s promise here, but it’ll take a little more substance to make the most of it.

Jungle occasionally feel like the aural equivalent of a travel agency: their music’s insistent bounce is very accommodating. But whoever decided that each yearning falsetto should be layered up and Insta-filtered – shorn of awkward ridges and imperfections – may be a sociopath.

While there's a sense that Jungle lack the invention of Young Fathers, whose vocals they echo, or Thundercat, whose disaffection they share, For Ever's Sunset Strip soap opera is always compelling.

Considered as a whole, ‘For Ever’ feels like an opportunity missed.