The Jungle is the fifth studio album from Plants And Animals, which is released via Secret City Records. This is the follow-up to the Montreal band’s critically acclaimed 2016 LP Waltzed In From the Rumbling. The Jungle delivers 8 songs (34 min, 07 sec) about climate change anxiety and drifting into uncharted independence. There are recurring themes about inheriting things that we might not necessarily want; touching on a broader sense of feeling that that is where a lot of people find themselves right now...

The Jungle is an entertaining collection of tracks starting with the upbeat 'The Jungle' and concluding with fuzz pop-esque 'Bold'. Along the way we visit the Talking Heads-like 'House on Fire' and the trippy 'Le Queens'.

While some might find it frustrating that they can't pin the band down by pigeonholing them, I enjoyed the fact that from track to track they constantly push themselves to step outside their comfort zone and appear to reinvent themselves constantly. At the end of the day it's this element that you'll love or hate. But why would you want an album of the same sort of cliched indie pop when Plants and Animals give you such a wonderful collection of songs with varied styles... which somehow still manage to fit beautifully together?

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Nick Smithson