GoGo Penguin’s Kora and rescheduled tour dates
GoGo Penguin
Self-titled new album released 5th June 2020 on Blue Note
*Rescheduled tour dates*
Brixton Academy Headline show – 16th November 2020 + more below
When a musical ensemble chooses to self-title an album mid-career, it usually signifies that they’ve struck upon the motherlode, hit the jackpot, and generally arrived at a point they’ve always striven for.
Coming from GoGo Penguin, an eponymous album is quite a bold statement: the instrumental trio from Manchester, England have fielded plaudits and rave reviews for their 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). Fusing jazz, classical and electronic influences, they’ve been nomiated for Mercury Prize Album Of The Year and have enjoyed success in the live arena.
“In the past, we’d have to get in the studio and finish the album in what felt like three days,” says drummer Rob. “This time, we had six months of writing, and two weeks of recording, so everyone had a lot more time to contribute to each track. There was more experimentation, trying things out and often throwing them away.”
Following on from ‘Atomised’, the next track from the record is a live session of Kora, which captures the band live and in full flow. It’s a taster of what’s to come when they hit the road again in September, playing to bigger audiences than they ever dreamt of, including the iconic Brixton Academy which is rescheduled for the 16th November “which is like, f*cking hell!”, summarizes a scarcely disbelieving Nick. Check out Kora here
“We’ll get up on a festival stage and everyone’ll be dancing,” says Chris, in trying to sum up their band’s unique appeal. “There’ll be people who are out of their mind on whatever, and then people who’re there with their family just dancing with a little kid – old guys and everybody in between, and we’ll be playing something where there’s distortion on the bass so it sounds like a synth, or Rob’s playing house beats….
“To be honest, that’s the thing that matters to us. As far as we’re concerned, people can call it whatever they like.”
Rescheduled tour dates
September 15th – SWG3 TV Studio, Glasgow
November 10th – 02 Academy, Sheffield
November 11th – The Junction, Cambridge
November 12th – The Marble Factory, Bristol
November 13th – Concorde 2, Brighton
November 14th – Sage, Gateshead
November 15th – Albert Hall, Manchester
November 16th – Brixton Academy, London