GoGo Penguin Releases New Single “F Maj Pixie” – Self-Titled Album out June 5th via Blue Note Records
GoGo Penguin Releases New Single “F Maj Pixie”Self-Titled Album out June 5th via Blue Note RecordsUS Tour Dates Postponed to February 2021
Photo redit: Jon Shard
“A trancelike alliance of technical mastery and instinctual chemistry far greater than the sum of its acoustic parts. GoGo Penguin already feels definitive.” — MOJO
Today, UK instrumental trio GoGo Penguin released “F Maj Pixie,” the third single from their upcoming self-titled album (out June 5th via Blue Note). GoGo Penguin have also announced that their previously scheduled June US tour is being postponed to February 2021, confirmed dates below (more are to be announced). Listen to “F Maj Pixie” here: https://gogopenguin.lnk.to/GoGoPenguin
The Manchester, England trio have fielded rave reviews for inspiration and originality at every turn since 2013, when they settled on their dream line-up of Chris Illingworth (piano), Rob Turner (drums) and Nick Blacka (bass). They won the Mercury Prize for album of the year in 2014 and have enjoyed a success matched by precious few vocal-free groups post-millennium. A big part of GoGo Penguin’s impact derives from the way they employ computer technology to compose with, then find ways to record (and perform) the results on acoustic instruments, with help from a surprisingly limited arsenal of effects pedals and delays. Rob confesses, “I spend way more time on my laptop than I do on my drums. The ratio is probably about 90% to 10%.” Turner obsessively works with production software favoured by many electronic producers, and “F Maj Pixie” (pronounced F Major Pixie) is partially based on a theme composed in Ableton. Bassist Nick Blacka explains: “The first idea came from an Ableton project that was heavily electronica inspired.
We continued to develop this idea using software initially. We were interested in how we could manipulate the sounds in the software and then afterwards recreate it acoustically. We’ve used this approach before but not in this particular way. This was how the ending came about where we slowed it down and manipulated the pitch in Ableton and then we learnt how to play it on our instruments. The second, we felt had more of a rockier sound to it. That particular riff we thought sounded slightly reminiscent of The Pixies. We’d been working on the two ideas separately for a few weeks before we decided to piece them together and we thought it worked. A lot of the time when we’re working on new tracks we use working titles for them. This is one of the few times we decided to stick with that title.”
GoGo Penguin’s music has always defied categorization. In their sound, there have been traces of latter day developments in jazz, such as Sweden’s free-thinking Esbjörn Svensson Trio (aka EST), or minimalist classical composers like Steve Reich, John Adams, even Erik Satie. Yet, all in their mid-30’s, you can hear that they have grown up in the golden age of electronica, with echoes ranging from rarefied techno (think Aphex Twin; Carl Craig’s Innerzone Orchestra), and the emotive melodies and crescendos of European house, through to Roni Size’s jazz-infused drum ‘n’ bass. The self-titled work follows GoGo Penguin’s critically acclaimed 2018 album A Humdrum Star. The Washington Post called the full-length “the group’s most hypnotic recording yet,” while NPR brought them in to perform three songs from A Humdrum Star for a Tiny Desk Concert.
In 2019, the trio released Ocean in a Drop: Music for Film. The EP drew inspiration from GGP’s celebrated live soundtrack for Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 cult doc Koyaanisqatsi, an original score that they’ve performed for audiences internationally.
US TOUR DATES
Feb 12 2021 – Chicago, IL – Constellation
Feb 13 2021 – Chicago, IL – Constellation
Feb 16 2021 – Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Lodge
Feb 19 2021 – Seattle, WA – Triple Door
Feb 24 2021 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
Feb 25 2021 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall Williamsburg
Feb 27 2021 – Washington, DC – The Hamilton Live
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