Following the release of their sublime album, Rain Before Seven…, Penguin Cafe have just dropped a new treat for us, in the shape of a single. Marking Penguin Cafe’s first-ever recording of Penguin Cafe Orchestra classic ‘Perpetuum Mobile’, the new single is a majestic orchestral rendition arranged by legendary British conductor and musical director Guy Protheroe and performed with The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Arthur Jeffes comments:
“This is one of my father’s most iconic pieces and it was a real joy to take it over to Prague and record with the Prague Philharmonic – doing it with a huge orchestra was something I’d always wanted to do. It gives it an even more cinematic feel and while it could never replace the original we’re overjoyed with how it came out!”
Listen to ‘Perpetuum Mobile (ft. The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra)’ below.
The wait is nearly over and the highly anticipated new album from Penguin Cafe, Rain Before Seven…, will see the light of day tomorrow through Erased Tapes. Ahead of it, the ensemble of Arthur Jeffes is ramping up the excitement with ‘Welcome To London’, the final single from the album. Jeffes explains how the track came about:
“for this track I started with the piano riff which is a 5/4 pattern moving through developing modulations – all the other elements are picking out points in the piano line and developing them. We ended up going quite John Barry with the arrangements – I love that 60’s feel of the Gretsch picking out a low-mid groove while the bassline syncopates underneath it.”
‘Welcome To London’ comes paired with a video directed by Mihai Feflea. Of the video, executive producer Robert Raths comments:
“this video is dedicated to those who feel lost in a place like London and yet make it their home. As someone who moved here from a different country nearly two decades ago, I couldn’t help but read the title with a healthy portion of sarcasm. I thought our penguin-headed friend would make for the perfect protagonist here. Writing this script also gave me an opportunity to finally visualise Simon Jeffes’ original vision he had of the Penguin Cafe as a magical haven within the concrete jungle when he hallucinated from fish poisoning back in 1972 — something I’ve always wondered why it hadn’t been done before. Because no matter how tough and fast-paced London life can be sometimes, it also contains many pockets of diverse beauty and wonder.”
Watch the video for ‘Welcome To London’ below and grab the album tomorrow.
Penguin Cafe‘s highly anticipated new album, Rain Before Seven…, is nearing its release date on July 7th through Erased Tapes. After enticing us with two singles, ‘Second Variety’ and ‘In Re Budd’, the ensemble of Arthur Jeffes have shared another track from the album, the radiant and joyful ‘Find Your Feet’. Speaking about the track, Jeffes had this to say:
“This track started life as a little groove on piano and ukulele – all based on reversing shapes across the bar. It’s a trick often used in South American music, hence the slightly caribbean/South American vibe. The structure does end up being quite minimalist and then it’s just a question of the other elements having fun over the top…”
Coinciding with the Piano Day celebrations, Penguin Cafe released last month a gorgeous new single called ‘Second Variety’. There’s more wonderful news from the ensemble of Arthur Jeffes who have this week announced the release of their fifth record, following their 2019 Antarctic-inspired album, Handfuls Of Night. Entitled Rain Before Seven…, the album takes its name from an old and optimistic weather saying, ‘Rain before seven, fine before eleven’. Jeffes comments:
“It has faintly optimistic overtones and I quite like it. It’s fallen out of usage recently but it does describe English weather patterns coming in off the Atlantic.”
Rain Before Seven… is infused with exuberant and colourful moods, as Jeffes explains:
“Stylistically it’s really satisfying to get back to playful rhythms and instruments. Certainly when starting out, I became aware that we’d stopped using quite a few of the textures that had been there at the beginning—and it was certainly there in my dad’s earlier stuff. So there’s a lot of balafon and textures from completely different parts of the world, musically and geographically: ukuleles, cuatros and melodicas that you can hear.”
We’ll have to wait until July 7th for Rain Before Seven… to be out through Erased Tapes but a second advance track, ‘In Re Budd’, is now ours to discover. With sounds seeped in “an Afro Cuban Cafe vibe”, ‘In Re Budd’ is dedicated to Harold Budd. Speaking about it, Jeffes says:
“This was the first piece I ever wrote on the balafon — and the day I was recording it I heard about Harold Budds’ passing away. I never met him but I’ve always loved his work and I felt that the incongruity of the track wouldn’t be at all inappropriate for a dedication.”
Penguin Cafe are offering the single with a delightful video directed by Mihai Feflea. Here it is.
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.
Penguin Cafe announced last month the release of their Antarctic-inspired album, Handfuls Of Night, and shared the first magnificent taste from it, ‘At The Top of The Hill, They Stood…’. Now they are offering a second glimpse at the new material with new track ‘Chapter´ and a single-shot accompanying video, filmed in New York. Of the video, Penguin Cafe´s Arthur Jeffes says:
“’Chapter’ is for me one of the big tracks on the album. We got into this mindset where we were creating cinematic story lines for our imaginary penguin protagonists – and this one was a lot of fun to make.
There’s a hint of 70’s cop-show about the main motif with the double push in the bass line and we got this idea of a hard-boiled detective-penguin, with a leather jacket and a cool car in New York. The video totally goes with that feel for me.
I love the idea of a familiar landscape being gradually moved into an imaginary, almost dreamlike version of itself – and the slow build in the video hit this exact note.”
Take a look at the video now.
Handfuls Of Night is out on October 4th through Erased Tapes.
