Album review: Loaded Honey – ‘Love Made Trees’

A year after landing a Brit award for best British group, two-thirds of retro-soul dance-pop practitioners Jungle are going it alone. Lydia Kitto and J Lloyd’s debut as Loaded Honey traces the highs and lows of their romantic relationship, cocooning it in a vaguely trippy suite of songs that fuse soul, R&B, funk and, on occasion, the playful cut-and-paste bricolage of the Avalanches.

Unhurried opener In Your Arms steadily builds layers of atmosphere, weaving strings around pitched vocals and distant harps, while Over – which hints at trouble in paradise – uses a downcast doo-wop feel and high-wire coos to create a luxuriant sadness. The pair can pick up the pace too; Don’t Speak’s feather-light funk is anchored by Kitto’s joyous vocal, while Really Love dabbles in the emotional push-pull of 60s girl groups.

As with Jungle’s recent output, Love Made Trees is immaculately produced, the perfect soundtrack to a wine-drunk dinner party or a long bath with posh candles. As their name suggests, the record is smooth, oozing sweetness that definitely hits the spot but can leave you longing for a hint of sour.

Love Made Trees by Loaded Honey is released on Awal