GoGo Penguin l-r: Jon Scott, Chris Illingworth, Nick Blacka. Photo: stock.
Manchester's GoGo Penguin have gone through significant personnel changes down the years - only founder pianist Chris Illingworth remaining. We first heard them when original double bassist Grant Russell was in the band, his replacement Nick Blacka remains. But since drummer Jon Scott - known for his work with the MOBO-winning Adam Waldmann led Kairos 4tet - took the reins from Rob Turner, the band continues to be as potent a force but powered differently given that Scott isn't as much a drum'n'bass workhorse as Turner proved so reliably.
The stunning Scott era has already delivered a moving album in Everything Is Going To Be OK and here on mini-album From the North which is a live representation of it if you think in terms of e.s.t. (an early influence on Illingworth) their Live in Hamburg. Translated that means this 7 tracker full of trio co-writes is shit hot. With 'Everything Is Going To Be OK' from the earlier album as a Miroslav Vitouš calibre Blacka-led centrepiece beautifully picked up by the sound engineers this is a goosebumps inducing affair pretty much all over. Illingworth, also heavily influenced by Aphex Twin, has never sounded more at ease, more himself. He knocks any suggestions of a sound that compares in its more heartwarming moments to the pathos of Ludovico Einaudi into a cocked hat.
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