Plants and Animals Release First Album in 4 Years 'The Jungle'

Today, the Montreal-based Plants and Animals released their first album in 4 years The Jungle via Secret City Records. At 3:00 pm ET today, the trio of Warren Spicer, Matthew Woody Woodley and Nic Basque will host a listening party on YouTube and will be chatting live with fans as they listen to the record in its entirety. Click here to join.

Today, the band have shared a track by track breakdown of the 8 songs that comprise their 5th studio album with The Talkhouse.

In their 4 star review, Exclaim! said The Jungle "...clearly displays its references; this album's transmutations, however, are the band's most consistently sublime and seem to have been rendered effortlessly in comparison to previous work. With The Jungle, Plants and Animals claim a more definitive and cogent sense of identity, maximizing a talent for both interpretation and invention."

Rolling Stone France proclaimed, "The opus revolves around eight songs with a strong message. These musical snapshots offer a panoramic view of what the year 2020 was, its social and political crises, then the COVID-19 epidemic. The ample, solid production catches the ear and demands curiosity and attention, with its intelligent arrangements full of subtleties," while Shakenstir calls it "optimum entertainment."

Since June, the band has released four tracks from the new album. Consequence of Sound stated, "Early singles like 'House on Fire' and 'Sacrifice' portended a collection of catchy but chaotic sonic landscapes. The latest sample of the effort, 'Le Queens,' offers a counterpoint to that aural bedlam - with a touch of Quebecois," while CBC Music said, "...songs like 'House on Fire' and 'Sacrifice' highlight what the band does best: form a rhythmic engine, whether it's fuelled by a chugging riff or driving synths, that feels unstoppable, and will surely inspire the same feeling in its listeners."

Plants and Animals is an iconic Montreal-based trio that began playing together as kids and emerged on the international scene in 2008 with Parc Avenue. The band has developed a varied cult following ever since, built on the shoulders of their self-produced records and their intense live shows. Parc Avenue was a critically acclaimed record (Pitchfork 8/10) released during the famous Montreal-is-the-new-Seattle music moment. This release set Plants and Animals as an incredible live force, a powerful songwriting trio and opened doors for them to tour the world many times over with people like Portugal. The Man, Gnarls Barkley and more. Three other releases followed and kept the band's status up high: La La Land (2010) "they're complicated and gorgeous [songs] and feel as innate as desire itself" (Paste Magazine), The End of That (2012) "vibrant, constantly rewarding" (Spin) and Waltzed in from the Rumbling (2016) "... the strike rate is remarkably high" ★★★★ (Q Magazine). The band was shortlisted (2008) and longlisted (2010) for the Polaris Music Prize and received multiple Juno Awards and ADISQ Awards nominations over the years.

Listen to the album here:

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