Leaving aside claims about jungle’s resurgence (for its most faithful apostles, the genre’s rattling rhythms never really left), the scene is undeniably experiencing a shot in the arm of late. At the weightier end of the spectrum, artists like Sherelle, Tim Reaper and Coco Bryce have incorporated hardcore and footwork, pushing the sound to ever more deafening reaches. But on the other side, a softer, more pastel-coloured jungle has concretised, born of the bedroom-based, confessional culture on TikTok, where painful experiences like heartbreak, loneliness and depression are felt in the open.

One of the most recognisable names in dance music today, Nia Archives, has typified this more sensitive clubbing corner, and her debut album (which follows a slew of EPs, a MOBO win and a BRITs nomination) shows why she continues to be among the best in this niche. We’ve already heard some of the tracks on Silence Is Loud (‘Forbidden Feelingz’ got its own EP in 2021, ‘So Tell Me’ followed a year later) but now they come contextualised by Archives’ larger vision.

She’s a junglist, but also an indie-pop girl, a neo-soul songstress, even an emo descendant. Frequently, she shows herself on equal footing with vocalists such as Lily Allen, Erykah Badu and Amy Winehouse. For her diaristic style, we might add Arlo Parks to that list too. The opening title track nods to the massive four-to-the-floor kick currently sweeping across drum & bass and jungle dance floors (softened here by clackety snare rolls). It’s a ravey start, but still imbued with melancholy. A heavily distorted vocal floats above the din, intoning ‘without you the silence is loud’; a clarion call for any bass-loving junglist, but also indicative of the shades of isolation that colour the album.

By the time we reach the track’s reprise (a soulful piano-driven lament now bereft of breaks), we’ve encountered limerence (‘Cards On The Table’), emotionally unavailable situationships (‘Unfinished Business’), estranged daughters (‘F.A.M.I.L.Y’), and social isolation in company (‘Crowded Roomz’). If the club is a place for escapism, collectivism and joy, then this record represents its dark underbelly: the anxiety and missed connections that haunt the morning after. 

Part of Archives’ strength is jungle’s vintage. Three decades on from its inception, we’ve seen Britpop, indie sleaze and pop punk emerge, all of which imbue Archives’ sound with equal doses of freshness and nostalgia. On ‘Nightmares’, she flexes her neo-soul vocals, layering harmonies to create a backing band of various Nias. Indie pop rears its head in the sunny acoustic strums on ‘Out Of Options’. ‘Tell Me What It’s Like?’ opens with a Paramore-esque riff. With such a sonic palette, this is indisputably post-Y2K jungle, made for a generation raised on a diet of Skins and Euphoria, for whom youthful angst and partying make a natural pairing.

Nia Archives: Silence Is Loud is released by Hijinxx/Island Records on Friday 12 April; Nia Archives is on tour Wednesday 10–Thursday 18 April.