Earlier this year, nomadic Texan instrumentalist Jason Dungan, who operates out of Copenhagen under the moniker Blue Lake, released Weft (reviewed here), a beautiful, shimmering short album of finely textured, intricate instrumentals. Although the record is in itself a significant piece of work, Jason considered it an interim project of sorts, testing his ability as bandleader and promising a full-length album by the end of the year.
So here we have The Animal, an LP that fully embraces the community spirit of music and a band sound. Before Weft, Blue Lake releases have been more solitary endeavours, with only 2019’s The Parrot splitting a solo structure with a collaborative sound. This makes the thinking behind Weft (which I stress deserves full recognition as a major piece of work in its own right) clearer, and that process immediately comes alive on The Animal.
The concept of the album is to consider humans more as animals, but less in the feral sense, and this becomes apparent on opening track, Circles. Using the spare drums of Oliver Laumann, Tomo Jacobson’s bass and Carolyn Goodwin’s bass clarinet, Jason’s jazz leanings come into play on a beautifully spacious intro that brings in zither and strings (Pauline and Nicole Hogstrand) to broaden the sound. The album notes’ suggestion of birdsong is fair here, especially when vocal harmonies, used by Blue Lake for the first time, enter at around the halfway point. The feeling is one of community and harmony and the effect is particularly rousing.
Vocal harmonies appear again on the title track, but the more serious nature of the music lends this one a somewhat melancholy feel. Neat guitar and slide parts settle in a tapestry where the bass clarinet stands out alongside those drifting vocal harmonies.
Brighter in character is Flowers for David, a celebration of life that has the zither providing a flurry of notes that the guitar blends with to create a complex tangle of music. The lack of bass lends the music a lightness that is questioned in the final third by Johan Carøe’s looming cello growl, bringing a shade of seriousness and perhaps underlying melancholy to the piece.
The double bass and bass clarinet are present on Seeds, a set highlight that brings to mind the minimalist intricacy of Three Cane Whale. The jazz mood of Circles is present here again, with the wonderfully deep bass notes dramatically contrasting the zither’s high sharpness and sparse piano. Scratchy bowed notes add to a less structured and more organic piece that is also reminiscent of Sally Anne Morgan’s instrumental work.
By no means overshadowing the success of Weft, The Animal instead provides further proof of Jason Dungan’s ambition and ability as a musician and now bandleader. A record celebrating human collaboration and the beauty of life and nature, The Animal sees Blue Lake push its sound into new realms, once again surprising and delighting—a wonderful, uplifting instrumental album.
The Animal (October 3rd, 2025) Tonal Union