By all rights, the third LP from Jungle, Loving in Stereo, should have been the soundtrack to the back half of summer 2021. The driving grooves, shout-along hooks, and joyful exuberance packed into these 45 minutes would undoubtedly be packing dance floors in clubs, backyard barbecues and block parties if we were all living the summer we thought we’d be living back in the heady days of, well, two months ago. 

Dry your eyes. Keep movin.’ All of the time—those commands aren’t just the album’s mission statement. They’re the actual titles of the first three songs, in order. Jungle’s co-masterminds Josh Lloyd and Tom McFarland extend that theme across the entire album, but especially on “Keep Movin’.” The disco string stabs punctuating the monster funk groove might be formulaic for Jungle, but the refrain—“Ah, you’re breaking my heart/ Thanks for making me stronger/ I can live with all”—takes on an urgency that elevates the track from a party anthem to declaration.

Or as McFarland recently said, “Whatever you go through, as long as you can stay strong and fight it, there’s always something on the other side.”

It turns out what’s on the other side is a steely, cool and resolute exploration of dance culture across the decades. “All of the Time” barrels along over a joyous house music foundation with vocals punctuating the beat with all the requisite disco affirmations. There’s a live feel to the track that grounds it in humanity so convincingly that it’s hard to tell where the samples stop and the band starts.

“Fire” has a monster bass line straight out of an extended Stone Roses outro leading to a psychedelic detour in the middle of the song that evokes being on the dance floor when the neurons and chemicals collide. “Talk About It” pushes the Manchester vibes even further. Whether Jungle is lifting from the Stone Roses or James Brown himself, the song carries the spirit residing inside those familiar snare drum ghost notes and adds itself to the pantheon of anthems built on the “Funky Drummer” foundation.

Loving In Stereo also carries the distinction of being Jungle’s first foray into working with guest vocalists. Priya Ragu’s ace turn on “Goodbye My Love” balances a delicateness with determined resolve over a muted lounge-like arrangement. “Romeo” features J. Cole protégée Bas and feels so natural that it begs the question of why Jungle has waited this long to team up with a hip-hop artist. 

Loving In Stereo might spin the disco ball a few too many times on tracks like “Just Fly Don’t Worry,” but then again, this is a Jungle album after all. And there are a few yacht rock excursions like “Lifting You” and “Bonnie Hill” that are just brief enough to not wear out their welcome. But while those tracks play it a bit too safe, “Truth” delivers the biggest departure of this album, or any Jungle album, for that matter. It’s straight-up ’80s movie soundtrack new wave so convincing that you can all but see the jazzercise training montage paired with the synth bleats and driving uptempo beat. It’s not a perfect fit, but it certainly has it’s charms.

This isn’t the summer we’d all hoped for. But even with masks back on faces, plans changing and hearts breaking, there’s well enough sunshine on Loving in Stereo to blast out your windows and celebrate surviving, if nothing else. That’s why it just might be the perfect summer soundtrack for 2021, after all. 

Follow Skott Bennett at Twitter.com/skottbennett.