GoGo Penguin shares genre-blurring "What We Are and What We Are Meant to Be" single; 'Necessary Fictions' LP out 6/20 via XXIM/Sony

Make sure check out the fantastic new single from genre-defying trio GoGo Penguin and watch the new Rich Williams-directed video for "What Wee Are and What We Are Meant to Be" as well...Robert Kinsler

UK trio GoGo Penguin share genre-shifting "What We Are and What We Are Meant to Be"   New single & video out now   Necessary Fictions LP out June 20, 2025 via XXIM/Sony   Upcoming 2025 & 2026 North American & European tour dates

WATCH + LISTEN: "WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT WE ARE MEANT TO BE"

Credit: Mark Gregson

On Friday June 20th, GoGo Penguin will be releasing their new album, Necessary Fictions, via XXIM/Sony. Today, the UK trio shares the new single and video "What We Are and What We Are Meant To Be," a genre-shifting slice from the new album.    For GoGo Penguin, the Manchester trio who’ve inspirationally blended jazz, classical and electronic influences since forming in 2012, the searching impulse in their music has reached a thrilling moment on their new seventh long-player.   Called Necessary Fictions, it finds pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Nick Blacka and drummer Jon Scott digging deep internally, says Blacka, to reach “what we think are our integral, authentic qualities at this moment in time”. That entails some of their boldest moves to date, such as incorporating modular synthesizers into their sound more than ever before.   All told, Necessary Fictions is an album of ambitious fresh developments, from a band fully at ease with who they are: confident enough to open the door to collaboration, excited about where they can explore next, and also keen to have fun doing so. “I was very aware of smiling a lot in the studio while we were making it,” says Illingworth, “and I’m smiling now just thinking about it. I hope that energy translates to people”.   If the ability to open up their working practices at this stage comes from a newfound feeling of strength and stability in their ranks, it follows a period of transition that was, at times, deeply fraught. As for so many people, the Covid pandemic proved to be a crossroads: they parted ways with their founding drummer, but soon found a dream replacement in Jon Scott.   If the new trio named their first album together, released in 2023, Everything Is Going to Be OK, it obviously reveals that for a while there they may’ve thought that it wouldn’t be. Recalls Nick, “It really felt like all the walls had crumbled at that point, and everything was burning down. Alongside all the band uncertainties, I lost two of the dearest people in my life to cancer around the making of that record. The latter, my brother, five weeks before we started recording.”   “So that record was very cathartic to make,” Chris adds, “but it became quite introspective and inward-looking. We were in the studio partly because it was a place of safety, somewhere to get away from what was going on in the outside world with lockdowns and what have you.”   For Necessary Fictions, they were free to make their own studio space in Manchester into more of a vibey hang-out, a nice place to go, with artwork, photographs and other images tacked up on the walls for stimulus and inspiration. Illingworth and Blacka went in there pretty much every day for twelve months through 2024; then Scott, who lives in London, journeyed up to work with GGP’s two mainstays when they were ready for his rhythmic input.   Nick and Chris, who both, as Nick discreetly puts it, have now “entered our fifth decade”, felt an urgent sense of purpose to cast off inhibitions and unhelpful habits in their music, to get deeper to the essence of what they want it to say. The album title derives from a book Nick had been reading called ‘The Middle Passage’ by James Hollis, which, he says, presents “very Jungian stuff about the shadow self, and hidden personae. You begin to think, ‘Hang on, there’s an authentic me, deep down in there somewhere!’"   “Musically,” he goes on, “it’s been the same journey, the same process of ditching some of the things we’d got used to doing which were holding us back. We’d be writing tracks in the past where we’d be hesitant, like, ‘But what are people going to think? Aren’t we supposed to be this jazz trio who are not really jazz? Who play electronic-type music on acoustic instruments and it's all very fast and frenetic?’”   The whole process of change this time out is summed up by a track on Necessary Fictions’ pointedly entitled "What We Are And What We Are Meant To Be." “It's really simple, really melodic,” Nick explains. “It's not showboating, like ‘Hey, look at all the chops we’ve got, and how great we are!’ There's not even any improvisation in it. Bass-wise, it's just got a bass synth like a dance track. There’s still a part of me that’s like, ‘What are people going to think?’ Then there’s another part that just thinks, ‘Fuck it, they can think what they want! This is what we want to make right now, and it feels authentic.’”   For Chris Illingworth, meanwhile, their journey has involved reaching further into a world he’d always been attracted to; namely, synthesizers. “I used to go and see people play live, like Underworld, Prodigy, Orbital, even Nine Inch Nails, and I’d see all their gear onstage, and a part of me would be thinking, ‘Bloody hell, that looks fun!’”   The pandemic period, where many of us plunged deep into online purchasing, proved to be Chris’s watershed moment, to begin investigating that world. As a kid, he’d dipped a toe, tinkering around on MIDI keyboards connected to an Atari with Cubase software, but he’d never taken it any further, or indeed into his work with GoGo Penguin. By trial and error, he realised the thing for him was modular synths, where “it’s like you build your own little instrument, to do what you want, and it feels really personal.”   Both Illingworth and Blacka remained fiercely wary, though, of bolting on wacky sounds just for the sake of it. “We didn’t want it to feel gimmicky,” Chris explains. “There had to be a reason, and for us that was knowing that in places we wanted the character of the music to shift.”   In the music, you start out following one of GGP’s trademark acoustic webs of piano, bass and drums, and you almost hardly notice the shift, as a synth sound like a plucked guitar weaves in, until a borderline rave riff and clattering beats take you to a bangin’ finale. Then, on the closing "Silence Speaks," the melody launches on synths, and the piano part majestically unfurls upon that electronic foundation to an integrated conclusion.   GoGo Penguin have always had a narrative, cinematic quality to their music, following a linear trajectory far removed from trite verse-chorus pop structures, and influenced by anything from Debussy’s ‘Preludes’ to Underworld’s ‘Pearl’s Girl’. Here, definitely, that storytelling-in-sound acquires wider parameters and far greater sophistication.   In their own playing, Chris and Nick have felt confident enough both to challenge themselves into breaking new ground, but also to know what is quintessentially ‘them’. Jon Scott is now fully bedded in at the drum kit, both live and within the writing process; they’re appreciative of his technical ability, as well as his aptitude in listening, finding space for himself in their sound, but also creating space for them, and then pushing them when the time is right.   So, in GoGo Penguin’s decade-plus story, they are perhaps at their happiest moment to date. In Necessary Fictions, you hear them referencing formative experiences which they feel define them as who they are: one was a walk through Pacific North-West redwoods around a tour stop in Seattle, duly encapsulated in the awestruck vibe of "Luminous Giants."   After the traumatic upheavals of the early ’00s, here finally the self-fulfilling prophesy of Everything Is Going To Be OK has been realised, and, their demons suitably exorcised, GoGo Penguin are now ambitiously digging deep within for their best selves, suitably emboldened to include other talents within their harmonious world. As such, Necessary Fictions is an exciting record, and yes, it’s okay to smile as you listen.   *** "What We Are and What We Are Meant to Be" video   *** 2025 & 2026 NORTH AMERICA & EU TOUR DATES JUNE 2025 - Europe 06/09 - Jazz Middelheim, Antwerp NL 06/22 - Jazz à la Défense, Puteaux FR OCTOBER 2025 - US/CA 10/05 - Boulder Theater, Boulder CO 10/07 - Fine Line, Minneapolis MN 10/08 - Space, Evanston IL 10/10 - Ardmore, Ardmore PA 10/11 - Le Poisson Rouge, New York City NY 10/12 - Birchmere, Alexandria VA 10/14 - Crystal Ballroom, Boston MA 10/15 - Mtelus, Montreal QC 10/16 - venue TBC, Québec City QC 10/17 - NAC Babs Asper Theatre, Ottawa ON 10/18 - Koerner Hall, Toronto ON NOVEMBER 2025 - US/CA 11/12 - Palace Theatre, Calgary AB 11/13 - Festival Place, Sherwood Park AB 11/14 - Vernon Performing Arts Centre, Vernon BC 11/15 - Centre for Performing Arts, Vancouver BC 11/17 - Royal Theatre, Victoria BC 11/18 - Neptune, Seattle WA 11/19 - Aladdin, Portland OR 11/21 - Fillmore, San Francisco CA 11/22 - El Rey, Los Angeles CA 11/23 - venue TBC, San Diego CA DECEMBER 2025 - UK 12/03 - Barbican Hall, London TBC - Albert Hall, Manchester TBC -  - Factory International, Manchester JAN-FEB 2026 - France TBC 01/28 - Le Bikini, Toulouse 01/29 - Le Rocher de Palmer, Cenon 01/31 - El Mediator, Perpignan 02/01 - La Sirene, La Rochelle 02/03 - Le 106, Rouen 02/04 - Olympia / Salle Pleyel, Paris 02/05 - Chabada, Angers 02/06 - Théâtre d'Angoulême, Angoulême 02/07 - venue TBC, Rennes 02/08 - Cap Caval, Penmarc'h 02/10 - Château Rouge, Annemasse 02/11 - Belle Electrique, Grenoble 02/12 - Kaufleuten, Zürich CH ***

GoGo Penguin Necessary Fictions XXIM / Sony Out June 20, 2025   Tracklisting Umbra Fallowfield Loops Forgive the Damages What We Are and What We Are Meant to Be Background Hiss Reminds Me of Rain The Turn Within Living Bricks in Dead Mortar Naga Ghost Luminous Giants Float (Loi Krathong, 2003) State of Flux (feat. Manchester Collective) Silence Speaks

GoGo Penguin Online Official Site - Facebook - Instagram - X - Spotify - Apple   XXIM Records Online Official Site - Instagram - Facebook - X

Rediscovered Recordings Resound In 2021

A diverse range of wonderful rediscovered recordings are highlighted this week...

Collectors will want to pick up the deluxe edition box set of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's 'Way Down In The Rust Bucket,' which chronicles a legendary 1990 concert event. It retails for $99.98 on the New Young Archives website.

Artist: Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Title: Way Down In The Rust Bucket (Reprise)

You might like if you enjoy: Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Tell me more: Clocking in at three hours or so, Neil Young & Crazy Horse's marathon performance across Way Down In The Rust Bucket is truly a stunning showcase for the quartet's power in the service of Young's stellar songcraft. The legendary performance at a small club (The Catalyst) in Santa Cruz, CA on Nov. 13, 1990 celebrated the release of the outstanding Ragged Glory album issued two months before; the entire event was filmed and recorded by Shakey Picture’s LA Johnson. Performing three sets, Young and company unleashed the first-time ever live versions of a slew of Ragged Glory cuts along with an evocative "Danger Bird," the latter a favorite off the 1970 album Zuma. The countrified rocker "Country Home," moody 14-minute "Love to Burn," soaring "Cinnamon Girl" and otherworldly "Over and Over Again" are early standouts. Late concert highlights include the harmonies-adorned "Don't Cry No Tears," fiery "Sedan Delivery," genuinely explosive "Like a Hurricane" and stirring concert-ending "Cortez the Killer." Way Down In The Rust Bucket was released on February 26, 2021 as a 4 LP vinyl box set, a 2 CD set and a deluxe edition box set containing a DVD of the concert, plus 4 vinyl LPs and 2 CDs. At a later date a stand-alone DVD will also be released at NYA — Young’s Archive website. Information: neilyoungarchives.com.

Artist: Todd Rundgren

Titles: A Wizard, A True Star...Live! (Cleopatra Records)

You might like if you enjoy: Todd Rundgren, The Who, Emitt Rhodes, Paul Stanley's Soul Station

Tell me more: Released on colorful rainbow swirl vinyl on March 5, Todd Rundgren's A Wizard, A True Star...Live! is a 2009 concert recording revisiting the artist's groundbreaking genre-bashing 1973 album A Wizard, A True Star! in its entirety. A Wizard, A True Star...Live! was issued on crystal clear DVD and audio CD last year, but the 2LP vinyl release is sure to please fans of the famed musician/producer/singer-songwriter who enjoy collectible vinyl titles. The 2LPs come packaged in a beautiful gatefold jacket featuring images from Rundgren's multi-media concert event captured in Akron, Ohio. The inspired recording shines throughout; the psychedelic-tinged opener "International Feel," wistful "Never Never Land," melodic "You Don't Have To Camp Around," neo-classical "Flamingo," ambitious "Zen Archer" and soulful "Sometimes I Don't Know What To Feel" are surefire standouts on the first LP. The second LP continues the parade of great offerings courtesy of a stellar soul medley, the melancholic trip "I Don't Want To Tie You Down," intoxicating rocker "Is It My Name?" and enthralling closer "Just One Victory." Rundgren's fourth studio album A Wizard, A True Star! mostly ignored the commercial-aimed songwriting found on his previous 1971 effort Something/Anything? and instead frequently focused on heavy experimentation. The results on the original studio set, as well as this terrific live version of the classic are glorious. Information: CleopatraRecords.com.

Artist: Hasaan Ibn Ali

Title: Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album (Omnivore Recordings)

You might like if you enjoy: John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Elmo Hope

Tell me more: Los Angeles-based Omnivore Recordings continues to champion rare and rediscovered recordings. Look (and listen!) no further than Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album, a never-before-issued 1965 recording featuring jazz pianist Hasaan Ibn Ali. The story of the recording is almost as amazing as the dazzling jazzscape that plays out via the talents of virtuoso keyboardist Ali, tenor saxophonist Odean Pope, bassist Art Davis and drummer Kalil Madi. Prior to the release of Metaphysics on March 5, Ali was seemingly destined to be known only for The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan, a 1964 recording that lifted the Philadelphia-based Ali out of obscurity.  Indeed, when Atlantic invited Ali to record again in August and September of 1965, the subsequent step in mixing the sessions was halted because of a narcotics possession that resulted in Ali's incarceration. Thirteen years later, the master tape was destroyed in an Atlantic Records warehouse in Long Branch, N.J. Fast forward to 2018 and the discovery of a tape copy of the long-lost reference acetates of the 1965 sessions; listening to the work of Grammy Award-winning engineer Michael Graves on the restored Metaphysics is to be immersed in the astonishing playing of Ali (who sadly died in 1981). Ali's original compositions are beautiful even while challenging the listener at every turn. Detailed liner notes shed additional light on Ali as well as the other musicians who accompany him on this magical rediscovery. Information: OmnivoreRecordings.com.

Artist: Richard Pryor

Titles: Richard Pryor; 'Craps' (After Hours) (Omnivore Recordings)

You might like if you enjoy: Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy

Tell me more: The widely-acknowledged #1 stand-up comic of all time, Richard Pryor kept audiences laughing on stage and screen in a career spanning from the early '60s to his death at the age of 65 in late 2005. Now Omnivore Recordings has released restored and expanded editions of the late artist's first two albums. Richard Pryor (originally released in 1968) and 'Craps' (After Hours) (first issued in 1971) showcase the Peoria, Illinois native early in his career and reveal how brilliant his style remains more than 50 years later. His style of comedy is halarious and decidedly edgy whether eliciting laughing attacks from club goers with tales of black superheroes, impressing girls, life in prison, religion and race or sex, drug use and a comedic take on all things in life with his ability to play multiple characters — all delivered with rapid-fire improvisational precision. Richard Pryor was recorded live at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, with a second disc featuring 21 tracks recorded at several different comedy clubs that were included in the out-of-print Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (1966-1974). 

The second Pryor release, 'Craps' (After Hours)' shows a slightly more polished Pryor, his comedy as keyed up as ever. The detailed liner notes on this collection are particularly helpful in understanding how Pryor "evolved from 19670s nighlub comedian to being the voice of his generation." Larry Karaszewski continues: "The performances capture the moment where Richard Pryor stopped being polite. Where he took off his suit and tie and gloves. Where Pryor began to reflect what was happening in the streets and in the counterculture." Information: OmnivoreRecordings.com.

Robert Kinsler

Sights and Sounds: 'The Soul of Midnight Special,' Fleet Foxes, GoGo Penguin

 Exciting news about upcoming and suddenly-available music titles as well as an upcoming virtual concert event...

'70s Soul comes alive with legendary artists performing their biggest hits on late night's original live music show in one very special DVD  collection available for the first time at retail

 

THE SOUL OF THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

 This 5-DVD Set ($45.99srp) Available on October 6, Features More Than 70 Historic Live Performances - Many of Which Have Never Been Available Before - from the Greatest Soul Singers of the Decade Including James Brown, Barry White, Earth, Wind & Fire, Al Green, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Curtis Mayfield, Sly & the Family Stone and More!

Fairfax, VA (September 18, 2020) - Like never before THE SOUL OF THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL brings home audiences and music lovers everywhere an unforgettable collection of legendary soul artists performing their hits in the prime of their careers -- uncut performances, just straight-from-the-heart soul singing with live musicians in front of a live audience. Now available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon for the first time on October 6, 2020.

 

James Brown performing on The Midnight Special

In the period between American Bandstand and MTV, there were sev­eral shows that tried to bring new music to television, but it wasn't until The Midnight Special, premiered on August 19, 1972, that live music found a home on the air. Burt Sugarman, producer of Grammy Awards telecasts, was frustrated by television's lack of programming after The Tonight Show ended -- the screen reverting to test patterns at 1:00 a.m.. Recognizing this valuable airtime could cater to a brand-new audience that craved its latest musical heroes, he created The Midnight Special, which ran every Friday night on NBC from 1972 to 1981.

 

The'70s was a special time for soul music and The Midnight Special truly had an affinity for the genre. Week after week, home audiences would have virtual front row seats for performances by the greatest soul performers of the time including Al Green, Earth Wind & Fire, Patti LaBelle, Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Spinners, The O'Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, The Stylistics, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight and The Pips and so many more. The Midnight Special was the only show where you could see real live performances week after week.

 

This October, for the first time ever, Time Life's THE SOUL OF THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL brings together the greatest soul performances handpicked from thousands in one very special 5-disc set. Included is an incredible collection of true soul classics - many of which haven't been seen since their original broadcast: from Let's Stay Together to Midnight Train to Georgia to love songs like the Stylistics' Betcha by Golly, Wow to dance grooves like Sly & the Family Stone's Dance to the Music and Ohio Players' Fire. All-time classic performances include Back Stabbers by the O'Jays, Tired of Being Alone by Al Green, Could It Be I'm Falling in Love by Spinners, Lean on Me by Bill Withers, The Love I Lost by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, and I Want to Take You Higher by Sly & the Family Stone. Also included are exclusive interviews with James Brown, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire The O'Jays, Russell Thompkins Jr. of The Stylistics, Bobby Womack, Ted Mills of Blue Magic, Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff, Gerald Alston, The Manhattans and George Benson.

 

THE SOUL OF THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL includes (in alphabetical order): 

• Al Green -- Tired of Being Alone (8/3/73), How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (8/3/73), I'm Still in Love with You (11/29/74), Let's Stay Together (11/29/74)
• Al Wilson -- Show and Tell (3/1/74)
• Barry White -- You're the First, the Last, My Everything (11/15/74), Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe (12/13/74), Never, Never Gonna Give You Up (12/13/74)
• Bill Withers -- Ain't No Sunshine (3/22/74), Lean on Me (3/22/74)
• Billy Preston -- Will It Go Round in Circles (1/4/74)
• Blue Magic -- Sideshow (12/13/74)
• Bobby Womack -- Lookin' for a Love (12/13/74)
• Chuck Berry -- Johnny B. Goode (11/2/73)
• Curtis Mayfield -- Back to the World (6/8/73), Freddie's Dead (Theme from Superfly) (9/21/73), Superfly (1/4/74)
• Earth, Wind & Fire -- Devotion (4/18/75)
• George Benson -- This Masquerade (7/30/76)
• Gladys Knight & the Pips -- Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye) (4/6/73), I Heard It through the Grapevine (4/6/73), Midnight Train to Georgia (10/5/73), Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me (12/20/74)
• Gladys Knight/B. B. King --The Thrill Is Gone (10/5/73)
• Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes -- Bad Luck (5/23/75), The Love I Lost (5/23/75), Let's Get Together Soon (Hope That We Can Be Together Soon) (5/23/75)
• James Brown -- Sex Machine (8/6/76), Get Up Offa That Thing (8/6/76), Cold Sweat/Papa's Got a Brand New Bag (10/8/76),
• Johnnie Taylor -- Who's Making Love (11/2/73)
• Kool & the Gang -- Hollywood Swinging (12/20/74), Jungle Boogie (12/20/74)
• LaBelle -- Lady Marmalade (4/18/75)
• Love Unlimited Orchestra -- Love's Theme (11/15/74)
• Minne Riperton -- Lovin' You (7/18/75), Inside My Love (7/18/75)
• Ohio Players -- Fire (4/4/75), Skin Tight (4/4/75)
• Ohio Players -- Love Rollercoaster (12/19/75), Honey (12/19/75)
• Ray Charles -- Georgia on My Mind (3/30/73), What'd I Say (3/30/73)
• Ray Charles/Aretha Franklin -- Takes Two to Tango (3/30/73)
• Rufus featuring Chaka Khan -- Sweet Thing (12/12/75), Once You Get Started (12/12/75)
• Sly & the Family Stone -- Stand! (10/26/73), I Want to Take You Higher (10/26/73), Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), (10/26/73), Dance to the Music (10/26/73)
• Spinners -- Could It Be I'm Falling in Love (2/9/73), I'll Be Around (2/9/73), One of a Kind (Love Affair) (6/8/73), Sadie (2/14/75), Then Came You (2/14/75)
• The Brothers Johnson-- I'll Be Good to You (10/8/76)
• The Chi-Lites -- Oh Girl (9/21/73)
• The Main Ingredient -- Just Don't Want to Be Lonely (10/11/74), Everybody Plays The Fool (10/11/74)
• The Manhattans -- Kiss and Say Goodbye (12/3/76)
• The Miracles -- Love Machine (12/3/76)
• The O'Jays -- Back Stabbers (3/23/73), Love Train (3/23/73), Put Your Hands Together (913/74), Sunshine (9/13/74)
• The Staple Singers -- Let's Do It Again (1/16/76), Respect Yourself (1/16/76)
• The Stylistics -- Betcha by Golly, Wow (6/1/73), Break Up to Make Up (6/1/73), I'm Stone in Love with You (6/1/73), You Make Me Feel Brand New (3/1/74)
• The Sylvers -- Boogie Fever (7/30/76)
• Wilson Pickett -- In the Midnight Hour (9/21/73) 

About Time Life

 

Time Life is one of the world's pre-eminent creators and direct marketers of unique music and video/DVD products, specializing in distinctive multi-media collections that evoke memories of yesterday, capture the spirit of today, and can be enjoyed for a lifetime. TIME LIFE and the TIME LIFE logo are registered trademarks of Time Warner Inc. and affiliated companies used under license by Direct Holdings Americas Inc., which is not affiliated with Time Warner Inc. or Time Inc.

Fleet Foxes release surprise fourth album 'Shore' 

Album out digitally on Anti- today, Sept. 22, 2020 

AVAILABLE AT 6:31am PT / 9:31am ET 

MARKING THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX 

Photo credit: Emily Johnston

Today, on the Autumnal Equinox, Fleet Foxes released their fourth studio album Shore at 6:31 am PT/9:31 am ET. The bright and hopeful album, released via Anti-, is available to stream and for physical pre-order HERE for a February 5, 2021 street date. In addition to the album, a 16 mm road movie of the same name by Kersti Jan Werdal that showcases the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest set to the score of the album is available to view at https://fleetfoxes.co. 

Shore was recorded before and during quarantine in Hudson (NY), Paris, Los Angeles, Long Island City and New York City from September 2018 until September 2020 with the help of recording and production engineer Beatriz Artola.The fifteen song, fifty-five minute Shore was initially inspired by frontman Robin Pecknold’s musical heroes such as Arthur Russell, Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guebrou and more who, in his experience, celebrated life in the face of death. “I see “shore” as a place of safety on the edge of something uncertain, staring at Whitman’s waves reciting ‘death,’” commented Pecknold. “Tempted by the adventure of the unknown at the same time you are relishing the comfort of the stable ground beneath you. This was the mindset I found, the fuel I found, for making this album.” 

Pecknold continues: 

Since the unexpected success of the first Fleet Foxes album over a decade ago, I have spent more time than I’m happy to admit in a state of constant worry and anxiety. Worried about what I should make, how it will be received, worried about the moves of other artists, my place amongst them, worried about my singing voice and mental health on long tours. I’ve never let myself enjoy this process as much as I could, or as much as I should. I’ve been so lucky in so many ways in my life, so lucky to be born with the seeds of the talents I have cultivated and lucky to have had so many unreal experiences. Maybe with luck can come guilt sometimes. I know I’ve welcomed hardship wherever I could find it, real or imagined, as a way of subconsciously tempering all this unreal luck I’ve had. By February 2020, I was again consumed with worry and anxiety over this album and how I would finish it. But since March, with a pandemic spiraling out of control, living in a failed state, watching and participating in a rash of protests and marches against systemic injustice, most of my anxiety around the album disappeared. It just came to seem so small in comparison to what we were all experiencing together. In its place came a gratitude, a joy at having the time and resources to devote to making sound, and a different perspective on how important or not this music was in the grand scheme of things. Music is both the most inessential and the most essential thing. We don’t need music to live, but I couldn’t imagine life without it. It became a great gift to no longer carry any worry or anxiety around the album, in light of everything that is going on. A tour may not happen for a year, music careers may not be what they once were. So it may be, but music remains essential. This reframing was another stroke of unexpected luck I have been the undeserving recipient of. I was able to take the wheel completely and see the album through much better than I had imagined it, with help from so many incredible collaborators, safe and lucky in a new frame of mind.

Read the full artist statement HERE. 

About Shore The Film 

Shore is an art piece filmed over the course of a month in Washington, Oregon, and Western Idaho on 16mm film. 

“I listened to the album while driving, and observationally shot landscapes that I felt resonated with the music, yet also stood on their own,” explained Director Kersti Jan Werdal. “The film is intended to co-exist and engage with the album, rather than be in a direct and symbiotic relationship with it. The urban and narrative scenes interact with the more surreal landscapes, rather than sit in opposition of one another. My hope is that the film, much like the album does, reflects optimism and strength.”

Kersti Jan Werdal is an artist working in film, photography, installation, and collage. 

Fleet Foxes’ self-titled debut made a profound impact on the international musical landscape, topping numerous “Best Of” lists, including Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums of the 2000’s and Pitchfork’s 50 Best Albums of 2008. Fleet Foxes is certified Gold in North America and Platinum in both the UK and Australia. The follow-up album Helplessness Blues was met with the same critical praise as its predecessor (MOJO five stars, Rolling Stone four stars, Pitchfork Best New Music); that album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200, went Gold in the UK, and earned the band a GRAMMY nomination. Six years later, the highly anticipated album Crack-Up was released, with AP saying “Rewarding, involving and meticulous, Crack-Up has been well worth the wait” and Uncut calling the album “Astonishing. Crack-Up may be the most anticipated release of the year, a welcome return. Ambitious, mature, meticulous.” The band embarked on a world tour that saw them headlining major festivals and their own sold-out shows throughout 2017-2018.

Shore Track Listing  Wading In Waist-High Water: lyric video HERE Sunblind: lyric video HERE   Can I Believe You: lyric video HERE Jara: lyric video HERE Featherweight: lyric video HERE A Long Way Past The Past: lyric video HERE For A Week Or Two: lyrics video HERE Maestranza: lyric video HERE Young Man's Game: lyric video HERE I'm Not My Season: lyric video HERE Quiet Air / Gioia: lyric video HERE Going-to-the-Sun Road: lyric video HERE Thymia: lyric video HERE Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman: lyric video HERE Shore: lyric video HERE

Follow Fleet Foxes: Website - Instagram - Robin’s Instagram - Facebook GoGo Penguin  Announces “Live from Studio Two”   A Virtual Concert Broadcast Live, Filmed at Abbey Road Studios   October 29, 2020 at 6 p.m. (PST) / 9 p.m. (EST) GoGo Penguin have been hailed as the “Radiohead of British Jazz,” but they draw equally on rock, jazz and minimalist influences, alongside the intricacy of Aphex Twin or Four Tet to create their punchy, experimental, but always beautiful music. This very special live event “GoGo Penguin Live from Studio Two,” was filmed at one of the band’s favorite studios, the legendary Studio Two at Abbey Road Studios, London. World-famous as the studio of choice for The Beatles, Studio Two is a unique space, part myth, part sacred space and blessed with a brilliant acoustic. For the band it was the perfect venue for a live concert film. Watch the trailer HERE.   As bassist Nick Blacka explains: "We didn’t want to perform in an empty venue, somehow it just felt weird trying to create the energy of a concert in an empty room, but we had recorded an EP in Studio Two back in 2015 and loved the space and somehow it just made sense to film a show here”   Pianist Chris Illingworth agrees: ‘It’s a really special space and we wanted somewhere intimate that we would be excited to work in and where we could tap into that sense of excitement that you get from a live concert.”   While for drummer Rob Turner it is all about the sound of the room: “When we perform we’re always reacting to each other but also the crowd. The people and the energy in the space is as much a part of the performance as we are. Studio Two is imbued with the ghosts of all the incredible music and musicians that have performed there. It has an atmosphere all of its own.  You really feel the expanse of time, how much has happened before you and how much will continue to happen after you”.     Beautifully lit by Lewis Howell, the band’s regular lighting collaborator and recorded by the band’s producer Joe Reiser, the concert features music from the band’s most recent Blue Note Records album, simply titled GoGo Penguin, alongside favorites from Man Made Object (2016) and A Humdrum Star (2018).   For GoGo Penguin it’s a typically bold move, revealing a band at the very top of their game. Expect junglist rhythms, beautiful melodies and thunderous sub-bass from one of the finest live bands in the world, filmed in one of the world’s most iconic studios.   The album GoGo Penguin is out now on Blue Note Records.   Tickets are available at: www.ticketmaster.co.uk/gogopenguin   Website - Facebook - Twitter - Instagram