Jungle Continue Their Vintage-Modern Dialogue on Sunshine

Jungle’s latest album Sunshine extends a sound that snapped into focus on 2021’s Loving in Stereo and tightened on Volcano. The band has always kept 1970s funk and soul in its wiring—Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang, and Sly & the Family Stone remain audible reference points—but the newer material is less about leaning on those sources than using them as raw material for something more current.

Lydia Kitto, now an official third member alongside Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland, is central to that shift. “Come Back to Me” opens with a smooth 1960s rocksteady feel, its bassline repurposing dub and reggae lope while Kitto’s vocal lands between dreamy and melancholy. Temptations-style backing vocals push the throwback angle, but the drums keep a greasy, analog swing. The title track recalls Jackson 5-era Motown, yet Kitto’s phrasing introduces real uncertainty: “Was supposed to feel like sunshine, loving with you.” “Where Are You Now” works from layered vocals and