SIMON Jeffes’ part exuberant folk, part minimalist aesthetic project Penguin Café Orchestra is gone in all but name since his untimely death. But this name-shortened incarnation, led by Jeffes’ son Arthur, continues to carry the torch, albeit with none of the original members.
The new sound is at times redolent of the Quintet de Hot Club de Paris, at others baroque, tinged with Latin, Celtic or African influences. And how many albums do you know that feature a Madagascan zither?
The Red Book is also rather other worldly in places, perhaps unsurprisingly with standout tracks Aurora and 1420 born from a project with NASA, which saw the tunes beamed into space.
Brian Eno said of Penguin Café: “nothing else has ever sounded quite like it… reliably modest and unforgettable”. Indeed so.
The Red Book was recorded in a church hall, reportedly haunted by wraithlike incantations and whether or not that’s the case, it certainly keeps alive the spirit of Simon Jeffes and his gloriously eccentric music.
• Penguin Café plays the Howard Assembly Room, Leeds on February 22.
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