Penguin Cafe  ^GB

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Penguin Cafe led by Arthur Jees, son of the late Simon Jees, continues to enchant audiences with their unique blend of Avant-Pop and acoustic electronica. The band pays homage to the original Penguin Cafe Orchestra featuring performances of classic compositions that have been captivating listeners for decades. 

Penguin Cafe was founded by Arthur Jees in 2007, bringing together a talented and disparate group of musicians initially to perform his father Simon Jees’ legacy of world-renowned PCO music, ten years after his untimely death in 1997. In the new lineup, including musicians such as Cass Browne (percussion, Gorillaz), Neil Codling (guitar, ukulele, Suede), Oli Langford (violin, Florence and the Machine), and Darren Berry (percussion, Razorlight), the band began performing not only classic PCO pieces but also new original compositions. 

Arthur, a talented composer in his own right, quickly began to create new and unique genre-defying music, blending classical instruments like violins and cellos with unexpected elements like ukuleles and melodicas, the spellbinding philosophy of the Penguin Cafe always in his mind. 

Four new albums of original music followed: A Matter of Life... in 2008, The Red Book in 2014 and The Imperfect Sea released on Erased Tapes in 2017. The same year Arthur paid tribute to his late father by performing PCO’s seminal record Union Cafe live to a sold out Union Chapel, coinciding with the album’s re-issue on Erased Tapes. 2019 brought the release of the band’s fifth album ‘Handfuls of Night’. 

‘Rain Before Seven...’ the newest and much applauded Penguin Cafe album quickly followed in late 2023 coupled with extensive UK touring through November and December, including returning to London’s Union Chapel. They also released their first ever recording of Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s classic ‘Perpetuum Mobile’ with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, and performed it live with members of the BBC Philharmonic to a sold out Peel Hall in Manchester as part of the FatOut Festival in September 2023.

In the last years the band have been extensively touring with the ‘Penguin Cafe performs Music from the Penguin Cafe Orchestra’, coinciding with Universal Music rereleasing all of the original PCO albums on limited edition Vinyl.

"Anyone who enjoys repetitive yet gradually evolving minimalist instrumental soundscapes will instantly fall in love with Penguin Orchestra. Or perhaps they already love them, and their booking will please them at least as much as it pleases me. For me, they were a gateway into a world once ruled by Philip Glass and today by Max Richter – a world I dive into whenever the overwhelming pressure of the world bubbles over," adds Majo Tesák from the Pohoda festival team. 

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