Avant-pop from musician, composer, and producer Arthur Jeffes and his Penguin Cafe ensemble, performing music from their 2023 release Rain Before Seven… and back catalogue favourites.

A sense of optimism infuses Penguin Cafe’s fifth studio album Rain Before Seven… . The title is taken from an old weather proverb ‘Rain before seven, fine before eleven’. Inspired by Arthur Jeffe’s experience of waiting out the 2020 lockdown, this is music that acknowledges grief, but chooses to express joy.

Combining folk, classical, and minimalism in a style distinctive to the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Arthur Jeffes and his cohorts craft a vivid series of panoramic sonic landscapes. Following in his father Simon Jeffes’ footsteps, they perform music from both the Penguin Cafe Orchestra repertoire alongside new Penguin Cafe material. They make use of a variety of instrumentation: gut-stringed violins, viola, cello, bass, percussion, piano, balafon, synthesiser, harmonium and more – to create an effervescent and playful sound.

Whimsical yet also beautifully poignant Rain Before Seven… is a wonderfully exciting, energising, and thoroughly immersive listening experience. Musically, it is impossible not to be swept up in its charm. KLOF Mag