Photo: Alex Kozobolis

Piano Day is celebrated tomorrow, the 88th day of the year, shining the spotlight on all things piano. Penguin Cafe are partaking in the celebrations with a gorgeous new single called ‘Second Variety’. Of the track, Arthur Jeffes comments:

“This piece came about in Italy where we’ve been staying quite a lot over the last few years. Time passes differently there – with this sense of endlessly repeating days and a kind of wistfulness stemming from knowing that tomorrow will be the same as yesterday. There is a kind of peace in that, but also a feeling of time slipping through one’s hands.

One day a musical friend from further North, Alessandro ‘Asso’ Stefana (who has worked with Mike Patton, PJ Harvey and Calexico), took advantage of a break between projects to come and visit. He brought lots of pedals and a lap steel, and we just tried things out. I ended up with a fairly sparse mix, as it captures the feeling of those days most clearly.”

‘Second Variety’ is released through Erased Tapes and you can listen to it below.