Review: Colour Of The Jungle - The Jungle Book

Reviews

Danny Hines

01 Jul 2018

Take a first look at The Jungle Book, the debut EP from Southsea alt-rockers Colour Of The Jungle

Stream Colour Of The Jungle  - The Jungle Book on Spotify

Colour Of The Jungle are a brand new five-piece alt-rock outfit hailing from sunny Southsea; finding their beginnings as a passion project, rather than a plot to dominate the world via the music industry, their music is honest and heart-on-sleeve. There’s no cliché here, just a group of friends creating art the only way they know how.

After just over a year on the scene, cutting their teeth on the local circuit, they’ve wasted little time in putting together their debut EP.

The EP, aptly named The Jungle Book (which is reason enough to give it a spin), showcases the band’s sound - ousting the lads from the obscurity of the jungle and thrusting them right into centre stage. It’s rare that an independent band puts together such a tight debut, but everything from the production down to the songwriting is solid from start to finish.

The Jungle Book kicks off with Conch; one of our favourite tracks thanks in part to its bright, bouncy bass line. It’s a straight-up indie rock number, but nobody said that was a bad thing - frontman Jack Evans channels Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon vocally on this one, without ever stepping on his toes. It’s a stellar introduction to their sound and paves the way for the rest of the EP, which is just as impressive.

Fat Crow strips Colour Of The Jungle’s sound right down to its core. The rhythm section is simplistic but never boring, there’s plenty to hold everything together plus a super catchy chorus with mystic lyrics about an overweight crow - we’re not sure what it means, but we like it nonetheless.

Dirty Wave brings a sprinkle of Psych Rock to the table - which will come as no surprise for anyone who knows the Southsea scene, it’s birthed some incredible Psych outfits over the past few years that have undoubtedly rubbed off on COTJ here.

The closing track Trout Pout has a message we can all get behind, we all know one person we wish that we could tell “no-one thinks you’re sexy with your lips poppin’ like a trout”. Now you don’t have to, Colour Of The Jungle did it for every single one of us. It’s a slick, smooth-as-hell track garnished with gratuitous Psych influence here again - a rippling, reverb-laden lead guitar weaves its way between the mix like a snake winding through the thick jungle flora. This one even has its own music video, following a trout pouting girl on her way to a COTJ gig, which you can check out below:

The Jungle Book is a great EP from a band that are surprisingly easy to get behind, their sound is accessible without feeling diluted. It’s a certainly a strong foundation for COTJ to build upon, and while there’s definitely room to develop and refine the sound, it’s clear that there’s the talent and skill here to do just that.

So we give this one a thumbs up, it’s got all the bare necessities plus a little extra.

Stream The Jungle Book on Spotify here

Keep up to date with Colour Of The Jungle via their Facebook page.