La Jungle – Blurry Landscapes

À Tant Rêver Du Roi / Black Basset / Rockerill

The latest album from anarchic Belgian duo La Jungle is an intriguing proposition; having debated the possibility of splitting up or launching headlong into a Covid recording blast, they then chose to send the completed works out to various outsider artists for them to envisage a visual accompaniment.

There is one for each of the eleven pieces rendered here and they run the gamut from pen and ink minimalism to all-out felt-tipped abandon in much the same way that the musical pieces run about covering lots of ground with manic energy.

It is hard to believe there are only two of them, but they bring the kind of reckless two-piece intensity that early Death From Above or Lightning Bolt had, but with far greater scope from polyrhythmic disorientation to full fuzz-guitar wig-out and slidey battered drum kit manoeuvres. Elsewhere, bouncy but dark Euro pop grooves leak out of around the hypnotic mania of repeated vocals and flangey guitar wavers over spacey ’70s-influenced soundscapes.

The dichotomy between the synthesiser wiggling and the at times pretty damn funky drumming is part of the charm, but La Jungle can also leap from slow prog with bleepy synths and waves of guitar to stark chugging ’80s Goth-infected groove. Disaffected voices merge with punk-funk guitar, but the drums are always the engine, even when they portray pseudo-tribal characteristics, lost in a cartoon jungle, the scattered remnants of unseen creatures lurking in the warm sweep of bass.

They love to force a toe to be tapped and there is something of the early ’80s Belgian Hard Beat sound that blows through a couple of their more dancefloor-oriented efforts, embracing digital and analogue in one fell swoop and nipping magpie-like amongst the bones and desire of all that came before. The brevity and lightness of touch is great, as if they are tasting these things, seeing if they suit before moving on to something else because they know there is so much more out there to squeeze in before time is up.

The wide-eyed grasp and desire to explore new spaces rings all the way though the album, with the irresistible drums always instilling a sense of urgency. When taken in tandem with the frankly madcap variety of art on offer in the booklet, the whole thing takes on a further dimension, forcing you to listen again with somebody else’s ears. Blurry Landscapes is a great blast of a listen and won’t take much to worm its way into your skull.

-Mr Olivetti-