Zaba: a twisted walk on the weird side of a psychedelic jungle

Oxford's indie experimentalist group Glass Animals first flew onto my radar when I discovered Youth, a sun-soaked track crammed with maternal hopes, desires and regrets. I was blown away by how well the band could match production to the song's overall theme - but I’d heard nothing yet. They were just getting started.

The band's first album, rainforest-inspired Zaba, crafts a dark and vivid jungle that crackles with energy on every track. Embedded in every narrative-style song is layers upon layers of cryptic clues and meanings, opening many of their singles - most notably Gooey and Hazey - up to the listener's interpretation. In other words, perfect for an author short of inspiration.

As other reviews of Zaba have pointed out, there is an unmistakeable, smirking self-awareness to the sometimes indecipherable lyrics. Just glancing over the Genius.com annotations for Walla Walla reveals a bitter clash between two amateur analysts: one swears the song alludes to heroin addiction, whereas the other claims it tells the story of a man being enticed by the freedom of the jungle. Constantly teetering on the brink of contrived over-poeticism, frontman Dave Bayley's writing offers just enough solid foundation to prevent it from being written off as pretentious nonsense. You're gifted a few vague, abstract pieces of a story - and the rest is up to you.

Track by track - eleven twisted tales

Here's to the one with a smoking stare

Running through my head with a bolo knife

Opening the album with a burst of sadistic ferocity, Flip begins with a deceptively slow, repeating rhythm of unfamiliar - yet undoubtedly haunting - sounds, which Bayley has likened to "opening someone's head with a can opener". The character in the song is on an unstoppable hunt for revenge, growing more and more furiously determined as the song rises in intensity, climaxing in the final chorus with a ricocheting volley of sharp noises. As in the case of Youth, the carefully chosen sonics in Flip reflect the mood perfectly: the dizzying outro signifies a loss of the firmly controlled composure at the song's opening. The restless lack of closure from the final chorus - "I'm gonna go back, I'm gonna go back" is repeated with no conclusion as to whether the speaker truly enacted his revenge or not - builds a desire for more. Flip's story is intoxicating and enticing - the perfect qualities for a memorable opening track.

Black Mambo pulls you down deep into a Breaking Bad inspired gambling match, full of sharp, snapping beats that exacerbate the sultry tension. Though sparse in production, with a reliance on the same sinister guitar riffs, Bayley's low-toned vocals drive an imminent sense of danger, a malevolent warning of the terrible outcome of the game. Anthropomorphised animals are the players in this twisted ring, deftly adding layers of symbolism to the patient sloth’s defeat of the anxious mole. Especially powerful is the outro, deviating from the ominous and erotic verses with an eerie falsetto repetition - "We can hold you". Likely due to its undeniable, addictive sexuality, this has proved a favourite with fans - myself very much included.

Effortlessly cementing itself as a favourite of mine, Pools takes the listener on a wild, richly crafted tour of a forested beach, leading you deeper into the woods with upbeat, dazzling production. Compared to the sleek, fevered eroticism of tracks like Black Mambo and Gooey, Pools is a youthful ode to childish innocence, combining the thrill of a dangerous adventure with the aching confusion that comes with first love. The song's hapless protagonist, desperate to please his apathetic, free-spirited companion, is granted freedom from his false smiles when he supposedly passes away in the final chorus, deliriously repeating "I smile because I want to" as he clings to his cathartic realization that he can be happy just for himself. After that emotionally exhausting journey, the listener is more than ready to settle back into the slow, gently pulsing rhythm of Gooey.

Ride my little Pooh Bear, wanna take a chance?

Wanna sip the smooth air, kick it in the sand?

Gooey was one of the many singles released for this album, and it remains the band's most played song on Spotify (and most viewed on YouTube). Hitting the same tenderly nostalgic spots that Pools touches on, the memorable and sometimes baffling lyricism ("ride my little pooh bear" and "peanut butter vibes" spring to mind) reflects the naïve and all-consuming passion of young love. Embellished to the brim with sonic details, this song fills every sense, as alluring and addictive as the smoky drug-den aura the album gives off.

There's a definite atmosphere of a tie-dyed acid trip about the album, but only two songs, Walla Walla and Hazey, directly allude to drugs and drink. The former is an energetic, delightfully weird and warped allegory for heroin addiction, whereas Hazey depicts a disintegrating relationship that is burdened by alcoholism. Both use carefully considered production to emulate the high from the respective drugs in question; particularly impressive is the subtle but clever water-droplet effect achieved in Hazey's intro. There's no doubt that Glass Animals know how to build at atmosphere - and if there was any, solely instrumental track Intruxx proves the band's impeccable talent.

Come on you hermit, you never fight back

Why don't you play with bows and arrows?

Softness begins to creep in at the edges of the second half of the album. Cocoa Hooves, which has been in the band's repertoire long before Zaba's release, uses a fluttering bassline and Bayley's hypnotic, half-whispered vocals to provide the "breather" that the frontman promises it to be. It sees the return of haunting falsetto, imploring the listener to give in to their darkest desires in a hushed, deadly hiss of "why not?”. The crescendo of the final chorus took me aback on first listening, and ever since it has ranked highly as a favourite for me, easily adaptable to the vague novel ideas I'm toying with currently. Similarly gentle, JDNT closes the album with another story of losing innocence, twisting and turning with light, airy guitar riffs and twinkling samples.

Despite being my least favourite track on the album, Wyrd is still a striking and intense song, telling a wild and confusing story that evades my understanding to this day. We see the return of anthropomorphised animals, tropical samples and a general mishmash of all the songs that went before. I could have done without it, but perhaps my lack of enthusiasm is down to my own frustration at being unable to form a tangible meaning from the obscure lyrics.

In stark contrast to how I feel about Wyrd, however, the only track on the album that I haven't yet discussed, Toes, is cryptic in all the right ways. Based on the novel The Island Of Dr. Moreau, the story of this song is a half-man, half-beast creature tying to understand itself - but the clever ambiguity of the lyrics lends this sultry, downbeat track to plenty of alternate interpretations. Well-placed drum beats and echoing background hums (most notable in the intro) kick up the humid, sweating tension in this song, giving it a gorgeous pillow-talk tone that even surpasses Black Mambo. The flickering rise and fall in vocal pitch during the chorus is flawless depiction of the speaker’s confused identity, proving once again that Glass Animals are experts in marrying lyrical undertones with their surrounding atmospheres.

How best to listen

Being a slightly nauseating fangirl at this point, I've had this album on a loop for long enough to get a feel for what parts of Zaba are more accessible than others. I listened to it in a completely random order, beginning with Gooey, Flip and Cocoa Hooves as my starting points, but since the album fits into so many genres, I'd recommend listening accordingly:

If you like smooth R&B: Start with Gooey, Toes and Black Mambo, but expect some injections of jungle influence. JDNT may also appeal.

If you like upbeat indie: Pools is your best bet, as well as Hazey and Walla Walla.

If you like dark alternative rock: Flip, Cocoa Hooves and Black Mambo all tell sinister stories that work excellently as creative inspiration.

If you're still not feeling Zaba: The band's sophomore album, How To Be A Human Being, offers far more variety and experimentalism. It's worth a listen, no matter what genre you usually go for.