Closer To Nowhere

Jungle “Where Are You Now“

Jungle default to making music that sounds like paradise. The grooves are relaxed, the sound is sleek, the arrangements are so harmonically satisfying that they almost feel too good. As they’ve refined their sound they’ve gradually dialed back musical tensions, so at this point a song like “Where Are You Now?” is the musical equivalent of perfectly comfortable weather. There’s a melancholy current to the song, a genuine bit of sadness in the midst of all this beauty, but it registers as more nostalgic than negative. I can understand being suspicious of music this warm and ingratiating, but I think the guiding creative impulse here is a celebration of sensual pleasure and a desire to give listeners some peace. It strikes me as an altruistic form of pop music.

Buy it from Amazon.

Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18 “Shades of Red”

Carwyn Ellis and Rio 18 also offer a relaxed groove with a gorgeous tonal palette on “Shades of Red,” but it doesn’t sound as much like paradise. Imagine a beautiful setting, but the air is muggy and the sky is overcast. Guest vocalist Nina Miranda brings a very late 60s sort of folky-witchy sensibility to the track, making the song sound a bit like Sandy Denny from Fairport Convention getting lost in a dense, funky jungle.

Buy it from Bandcamp.