PENGUIN CAFÉ

Penguin Cafe, led by English composer and musician Arthur Jeffes, serves as both a continuation of and homage to his father Simon Jeffes' original avant-pop band Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Distinct from the original ensemble, Penguin Cafe features no former members of PCO, but they perform some of their compositions and play a similarly uncategorizable blend of folk, jazz, pop, and chamber music influences, occasionally using unconventional instrumentation. While Penguin Cafe's early releases largely stayed true to the established PCO style, the group expanded their sound with albums like the electronic-influenced (yet largely acoustic) 2017 full-length The Imperfect Sea and the more rhythmic, even tropical-sounding Rain Before Seven... (2023).