BLUE NOTE
It’s album five time for the Manchester three-piece, who have been lugging the “Mercurynominated” tag around with them since their second v.2.0 in 2014. They subsequently signed to Blue Note and made two more records and one soundtrack between non-stop touring. Now in a position where they can sell out Brixton Academy, they finally took stock and spent six months writing this self-titled collection. It’s less obviously ‘jazz’ than its predecessors and would sit comfortably alongside Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek or Jack DeJohnette on ECM. However, drummer Rob Turner claims to spend more time on his laptop than his kit, while pianist Chris Illingworth uses a delay pedal to trigger backwards loops of himself; so while it manages to be a great modern classical album, GoGo Penguin also has its sights set on the dancefloor.