Jungle – Move Like You Do | 2026InSongs #160

Move Like You Do is one of those songs that immediately gives you an idea of what it is trying to do even before you really get into the song. Jungle is a british group that has been mixing soul, funk, disco and electronic music for more than a decade, and in this song they go deeper into the disco side of their sound, with a very danceable beat and a production that feels both like a modern electronic song and like something that could have come from a disco record from the 70s. The song is part of Sunshine, their fifth studio album released in 2026, and it is one of those songs that makes a lot of sense when you look at the entire aesthetic of the album, which is warmer, brighter, and more interested in the relationship between the music and movement.

Jungle started as the project of Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland in London. The two had been friends since childhood and started the band in 2013 with a very particular visual identity where the musicians themselves were not always the main characters of the videos and dancers were used to translate the feeling of the music visually. This relationship between Jungle and dance is important for Move Like You Do because the song was not just made to be listened to, it was made with movement in mind and the band worked with choreographer Will West while developing the song, trying different tempos until they found the one that worked with the choreography.

Jungle and Sunshine

Sunshine is the fifth studio album from Jungle and it comes after Volcano from 2023, an album that pushed the band even further into the mainstream with songs like Back On 74. The new album keeps a lot of the characteristics that made Jungle recognizable but has a more warm and sunny feeling and also shows influences from Brazilian and Latin American music, something that Josh and Tom have talked about when mentioning artists like Sérgio Mendes, Gal Costa and Marcos Valle as some of the references they were listening to.

The album also has a more important role for Lydia Kitto, who had been collaborating with Jungle for some time before becoming officially part of the group. Her voice had already become a recognizable part of the band’s sound and on Sunshine she is now part of the trio, adding another layer to the vocals and to the soul influence that has always been present in Jungle’s music.

Move Like You Do is track four in the album and it is one of the songs where the disco influence is more obvious. The song is short, around two minutes and forty seconds, and does not really waste much time trying to convince the listener of what it is. The beat starts, the vocals come in and the whole thing is basically an invitation to move.

Jungle and dance

The relationship between Jungle and dancers goes back to the beginning of the band. Their videos became known for using choreography as an important part of the visual identity and instead of having a traditional videoclip where the band performs the song, the videos often show dancers performing complicated choreographies in long continuous shots.

The first Jungle video, Platoon, is a good example of that and the dancer in the video became almost as recognizable as the band itself. The idea continued throughout the band’s career and became one of the things that makes Jungle different from other groups working with similar musical influences.

Move Like You Do continues that relationship but in a more direct way. The band has talked about working with the choreography while developing the song and even changing the tempo because the music and the dance needed to work together. It is interesting because usually a song is made and later a choreography is created for it, while with Jungle the two things can be developed together.

This probably explains why the song feels so physical.

You don’t really have to think about dancing when you listen to it.

The rhythm does it for you.

Talk nerdy to me

For beginner music producers, Move Like You Do is a good example of how a song can be based more on rhythm and texture than on complicated harmonic changes. The song is around 121 BPM and uses a 4/4 beat, which puts it in a very comfortable tempo for dancing and gives the drums enough space to create the swing that makes the song feel less mechanical.

The interesting thing here is the combination of the different elements. The bass and drums create the foundation, the keyboards and synthesizers fill the spaces and the samples bring the disco feeling into the production. The song is not trying to constantly change the harmony or introduce a new melody every few seconds, instead the producers allow the groove to develop through small changes in the arrangement and through the relationship between the instruments.

Jungle has also talked about the use of sampling in their music and Sunshine has an interesting twist to it because some of the samples come from the band’s own previous recordings. Instead of simply taking a piece of an old record and putting it into a new song, the band can create the material themselves and then treat it as a sample, chopping and rearranging it until it becomes something different.

This is something that beginner producers can learn from because a good groove does not necessarily need a huge amount of information. Sometimes the difficult part is finding the right combination of drums, bass and small rhythmic elements and then knowing when not to add anything else.

Move Like You Do is basically built around that idea.

More from Jungle

Jungle has a relatively large discography by now and there are a few songs that are particularly interesting to listen to together with Move Like You Do.

• Back On 74
• Casio
• The Heat

Back On 74 is probably the song most people will associate with Jungle today. It came from Volcano and became one of the biggest songs from the group, helped in part by its videoclip and its very recognizable choreography. The song has a funk and soul feeling but with the modern electronic production that has become characteristic of Jungle.

Casio comes from the 2018 album For Ever and is a good example of the band’s earlier approach to funk and soul. It is one of those songs where the groove is very important and where the vocals and instrumental arrangement work almost like another rhythmic element.

The Heat is from the band’s first album Jungle and shows a much earlier version of the group. The sound is more minimal and mysterious but you can already hear the combination of electronic music, soul and funk that later became much more developed in the band’s music.

Listening to these three songs together makes it easier to understand the evolution of Jungle because the band has changed quite a lot throughout the years without completely abandoning the musical identity that made them interesting in the first place.

Jungle’s evolution

One of the things I find interesting about Jungle is that the band never really stayed in the same place. The first album had a more mysterious and minimal feeling and the visual identity was almost as important as the music, while later albums became more ambitious and more obviously focused on funk, disco and dance music.

Volcano was a big step in that evolution and Sunshine continues the process by bringing a warmer production and more influences into the mix. The band has mentioned listening to Brazilian music and other forms of Latin music during the creation of the album and you can hear some of that interest in the way percussion, rhythm and groove are treated.

Move Like You Do is not necessarily the most complicated song in the album but it is probably one of the clearest examples of what Jungle is trying to accomplish. It takes disco, soul, electronic music and the band’s long relationship with dance and puts all of those things into a very short song.

The song is basically an invitation.

Move like you do.

Why Move Like You Do

This was posted because Jungle is one of those bands that has slowly made its way into my music library through songs that randomly appear and then stay there. I have listened to Jungle before through songs like Back On 74 and Casio but Move Like You Do has that different kind of energy that makes you want to listen to the whole album instead of only the single.

There is something very interesting about songs that are almost impossible to listen to without moving. You can be working, cleaning the house or doing something completely unrelated and suddenly the rhythm gets your attention. This is probably what Jungle has always understood very well, that dance music does not necessarily need to be made for a club and that a song can create movement even when you are just listening to it through headphones.

Move Like You Do feels like another step in that direction. It is modern but it is also nostalgic, electronic but still very much based on soul and disco and simple enough to immediately understand while having enough details in the production to reward repeated listening.

That is probably why it ended up here.

It is one of those songs that does not ask for much.

You just press play and move.