Penguin Cafe – Rain Before Seven… (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Penguin Cafe – Rain Before Seven… (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:07 minutes | 952 MB | Genre: Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Erased Tapes

Penguin Cafe return with new album Rain Before Seven.. A sense of optimism infuses Penguin Cafe’s fifth studio album, not the braggadocious, overconfident kind, but more a blithe, self-effacing optimism in keeping with the national character. Even when all signs point to the contrary, it operates within the certainty that things are going to be alright.

The expectations of a son carrying on his deceased father’s musical legacy are unenviable. That the son is carrying on his father’s legacy under a similar—but not exactly identical—name, and in a similar—but not exactly identical—musical style, and with occasional—but not consistent—inclusions of his father’s repertoire in live performances … well, all that somehow manages to both scramble and increase those expectations. However, for the past 14 years, more than half as long as the original Penguin Cafe Orchestra performed under the leadership of Simon Jeffes, multi-instrumentalist Arthur Jeffes has been at the helm of Penguin Cafe, a group that not only includes no members of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra but also one that stakes its reputation on new, original material.

Rain Before Seven is the sixth album of that original material and while Arthur Jeffes certainly doesn’t shy away from evoking the multi-instrumental, quasi-folk/quasi-classical soundworld that his father pioneered in the 1970s, the younger Jeffes’s approach leans much more heavily on the atmospheric soundscapes indulged in by many contemporary classical crossover artists. Although there’s a raft of “real” instruments at work here—ranging from piano and strings to ukulele and (naturally) harmonium—there’s a distinct sheen of digital architecture that undergirds the material on Rain Before Seven, giving it less of an organic sense of adventure and more like it’s being optimized for music library placement or chill-vibes-playlist inclusion. Cuts like “Galahad” and “No One Really Leaves,” are by no means unpleasant, but far less interesting than they could be, with rhythms that are pretty straightforward and undemanding, and arrangements that leave little to the imagination.

Where Rain Before Seven really shines, however, is on the more complex and whimsical numbers, like “In Re Budd,” which doesn’t sound at all like a Harold Budd piano piece but does feature the balafon, a West African xylophone, making dense, circular rhythms and gentle, airborne melodies. Similarly, the album closer “Goldfinch” is both epic and intimate, with Jeffes & Co. pulling out all the instrumental stops, with strings pulling triple duty in quartet format, as well as wild violin solos and folksy fiddling. – Jason Ferguson

Tracklist:
1-1. Penguin Cafe – Welcome to London (04:48)
1-2. Penguin Cafe – Temporary Shelter from the Storm (04:55)
1-3. Penguin Cafe – In Re Budd (04:22)
1-4. Penguin Cafe – Second Variety (03:53)
1-5. Penguin Cafe – Galahad (06:10)
1-6. Penguin Cafe – Might Be Something (06:29)
1-7. Penguin Cafe – No One Really Leaves… (04:54)
1-8. Penguin Cafe – Find Your Feet (04:17)
1-9. Penguin Cafe – Lamborghini 754 (04:23)
1-10. Penguin Cafe – Goldfinch Yodel (04:49)

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