After years curating Jungle’s funky sound, Kitto and Lloyd step into a more intimate space with their new project, Loaded Honey.
While living and working together on the Brit Award-winning group Jungle’s recent albums, Lydia Kitto and J Lloyd discovered a different sound emerging from their sessions. The sound was more cinematic, more intimate, and too emotionally expansive to live under Jungle’s shiny, funk-driven umbrella. Thus, their new project, Loaded Honey, emerged. Their anticipated debut album, Love Made Trees, arrived today.
The album’s 12 tracks are soulful, casually groovy, and rich with poetic lyricism, offering a softer counterpoint to the rhythmic pulse of Jungle. Rather than big-room energy, the project is more about a smaller emotional atmosphere. It is music made for moments of reflection or yearning. Jungle is for the dance floor, while Loaded Honey is for lingering at the dim afterparty.
Their latest single, “Tokyo Rain,” captures this timelessly groovy mood. A ballad that reflects on longing, it calls to mind classical romance– a surprise proposal at sunset, a handwritten love letter, waltzing in the rain. The track showcases Kitto’s breathy vocals gliding over textural production.
Like the cinematic one-shot music videos Jungle is known for, the “Tokyo Rain” video was co-directed by Lloyd and Jungle collaborator Charlie Di Placido. It features Kitto smiling, singing to the camera, and joyfully dancing outside an old-timey gas station in slow motion.
“Tokyo Rain” follows a string of singles—”Lessons,” “Don’t Speak,” “Bullet,” and the self-titled “Loaded Honey”—each piece a chapter in the duo’s ongoing narrative. Love Made Trees is a sonic story contemplating devotion and change over the past three years.
While rooted in soul and R&B, the project isn’t confined by genre. Instead, it leans into feeling. Kitto and Lloyd use lighter instrumentation, layered vocals, and thoughtful lyricism to compose a deeply emotive ambiance.
Where Jungle revels in maximalist production, Loaded Honey thrives in a quiet boldness. It’s a practice of restraint. The project allows both artists—especially Kitto, with her vocals at the forefront—to explore new creative depths.
Loaded Honey’s debut doesn’t rush to impress but lingers with you after the last soulful note fades. With Love Made Trees, the duo offers a collection of moments unfolding slowly and with intention.
Homepage image; Loaded Honey by Mason Rose.
