There’s a lot to love about a group like The Jungle Giants, who have successfully evolved and shifted their sound over the years. Each album by the Brisbane group sounds different from the last—with elements of rock, post-punk, and dance building upon their indie-pop origins—but there’s been a consistent sonic narrative throughout. Their fourth album, Love Signs, comes four years after Quiet Ferocity. It’s their most electronic to date—a warm, deeply rhythmic dance-pop album of earworm melodies and bright grooves. It’s also the first Jungle Giants album that was written, recorded, and produced entirely by frontman Sam Hales. It’s a decision that was, for the most part, made earlier on in the process between albums, but it was solidified by the isolation requirements enforced throughout the pandemic.
As such, the sound and style are entirely products of Hales’ vision and his painstaking attention to detail. The opening title track (apparently named after a lyric Hales’ partner misheard when he played her a demo version) is summery and intricate, but sparse enough to emit a sense of space. It’s this motif—a distinction between delicate verses and groove-laden choruses that adds drama during even the most subtle moments—that Hales really excels at. On “Heartless,” Hales flips between thin falsetto over a tight bassline and a bright indie-dance chorus. And “Heavy Hearted”—the album’s first single—is so catchy it feels instinctively familiar, with wistful piano-backed verses and a chorus built on the kind of house beat that begs for a sweaty dance floor.