Few know who Jungle are, but their first London gig has sold out on the strength of two blog-melting singles and videos. Meet the mysterious pair …
'The loneliest place is in your own head, so you have to share it with other people to make it real," says J, one half of Jungle, the art collective and best friend duo that are drumming up waves of excitement for next year. Part of their appeal – other than their hypnotic grooves – is that no one actually knows who Jungle are. One blogger, reporting amid a cloud of smoke at their Brighton gig, claims to have detected "an Adidas top and gold chain" and "a topknot". We're not even allowed to know their real names – well, until J accidentally answers my opening question "Who am I talking to?" with "Hi, it's Josh."
Jungle join the ranks of anonymous anti-characters who have created a blog frenzy in recent years, such as Chvrches, MS MR, Wu Lyf and The Child Of Lov, but the simple power of a secret shows no sign of waning: their first London show in December sold out in less than 24 hours.
Joined by T (Tom? Tim? Taggart?), the two-piece make a soulful, moody sound indebted to TV on the Radio, Shuggie Otis and Toro Y Moi. They formed at the start of 2013 and have released two singles with mesmerising music videos co-directed by the band themselves: The Heat features the dance moves of Icky and Silence from the High Rollaz UK skate crew, and six-year-old B-Girl Terra stars in Platoon.
Part insolent and part sceptical, they remain incredibly vague and absurd in response to all questions: "Why would you like to know how old we are?" (T, on age). "We're very slim, toned, 6ft 4in and a little bit like Jude Law in Alfie" (J, on appearance). They are willing to explain a bit about their backstory: before forming Jungle they were "dilly-dallying" and "making ends meet" as session musicians and songwriters, and they play as a seven-piece live. T and J have been friends since they were nine, for more than 10 years, and were neighbours growing up in west London.
"J literally jumped over my garden wall one day with a Pokémon card and asked 'What have you got? I want to trade.' And that's where it started," says T.
"We used to hang out on the wall that joined all our gardens. A lot of us used to – I suppose it was like a micro-community that started happening, and that forms who you are. You always go there after dinner. Get in fights. Rollerblade. When the internet wasn't around, you know?"
They speak wistfully about a time before the digital age, but the images and videos Jungle create are as Tumblr-friendly and viral-ready as they come. While hiding their names and faces may be a good way to pique interest in their music, their images and videos act as carefully placed reference points – the sense of retro nostalgia in their visuals nods to an obsession with 80s hip-hop and B-boy culture. There's a yearning for a simpler time; for their childhood, perhaps. They can't fully explain how this translates to their music, but Jungle's intention is to make some kind of human connection with the listener.
"Now, you find yourself so glued to the screens, and I think that we look back on growing up a lot. I look at myself and the people around me – my brothers and sisters – and the same is happening to them. The phone is more important than the conversation in the room," J says.
"People learn to connect with other people through human interaction. You know how to treat people because you treated someone the wrong way and you got told off by your mum. It's that whole thing of learning how to be a human being, and we're forgetting that," adds T.
In previous interviews they've alluded to the fact that they might be part of a bigger collective, a vision that starts with the music but later forms a soundscape with the accompanying imagery. But when asked about their involvement in Jungle's aesthetics, they remain a little shady: "It's all about having fun. Being friends and creating worlds," says J, "things we want to see and be."
"We're pretty conscious of the fact that everything moves quickly," T adds. "You've always got to evolve because people are a click away from finding out about you, but they're also a click away from closing the window that you were playing on."
"Jungle – just one click away," J cackles down the phone. "That's going to be our Christmas ad."
by Harriet Gibsone via Music: Electronic music | theguardian.com
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