Penguin Cafe knocked everyone backwards when they first played at Saffron Hall back in 2015 – “life-affirming” was how one audience member described it – and we can’t wait to have them back for another night of exploration, invention and that indefinably vibrant Penguin Cafe quirkiness.
Tonight’s concert features Penguin Cafe classics alongside music both familiar and new – all performed with the same indefinable, unmistakable creativity and joy.
Arthur Jeffes is a musician, composer, producer and founder of Penguin Cafe. Before settling down to make music he dabbled in Arctic exploring, which became the starting point for Arthur to become a composer in his own right, as the prolonged periods of icy silence inspired original compositions, most recently on the latest Penguin Cafe album ‘Handfuls of Night’ released September 2019 on Erased Tapes Records.
Following in the footsteps of his father, Simon Jeffes of the iconic Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Arthur formed Penguin Cafe with a brand new line-up in 2009, bringing together a talented array of musicians to create a new generation Penguin Collective, initially to keep the music from the Penguin Cafe alive.
Four new albums of original music followed: A Matter of Life… in 2011, 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.
Most recently, 2018 saw the Penguins perform in Paris, Berlin and London with a special show to support Greenpeace at the new venue EartH in Hackney, and 2019 brought the release of the band’s latest album Handfuls of Night, in September on their label Erased Tapes. 2019 also saw Penguin Cafe tour extensively in the UK culminating in their sold out show at the Southbank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
2020 saw the band complete touring throughout Europe in January, and happily touring once again commenced in November 2021 with three dates just performed across Portugal. 2022 sees a hopeful return to live music with Penguin Cafe headlining the Barbican in March and further UK and international dates in the planning for summer.