A Humdrum Star in Bloomington, MN

Go Go Penguin
's genre-bending, EDM-influenced brand of jazz has earned the Manchester-based trio plaudits, including being shortlisted for the Mercury Prize in 2014. The band's fourth studio album, and second for
Blue Note
, 2018's atmospheric
A Humdrum Star
, finds them delving even deeper into an electronic-influenced sound that favors texture and mood over standards or jazz-based elements. Once again featured are bassist
Nick Blacka
, pianist
Chris Illingworth
, and drummer
Rob Turner
. Working with producers
Joe Reiser
and
Brendan Williams
, the trio offers a set of original compositions rife with skittering breakbeats, roiling piano melodies, and warm acoustic bass grooves. It's a style that seems informed as much by the computer-based production of
Four Tet
, and
Amon Tobin
as the hypnotic classical compositions of
Philip Glass
and the '70s jazz of
Keith Jarrett
. To achieve this cross-pollinated aesthetic, the band purportedly balance their compositional process between writing songs on their instruments and utilizing electronic production programs that they then translate to live instrumentation. As a result, these songs have the wave-like flow of electronic dance tracks but with the expansive, acoustic atmosphere of classic
ECM
recordings. ~ Matt Collar