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

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GoGo Penguin releases new single “Window” - 'A Humdrum Star' out February 9, 2018

GoGo Penguin pianist Chris Illingworth performing at
Coachella in Indio, CA on April 23, 2016.
Photo: Robert Kinsler

I absolutely loved GoGo Penguin when I caught the trio at Coachella in April 2016 (Read my review of the band's performance as part of my Coachellafest coverage that year here). You can read my review of 2016's Man Made Object here. 

Now, I 've just watched the music video for GoGo Penguin's new song "Bardo" and it's amazing. Make sure to check that out and catch up on this amazing jazz-minded group from Manchester in the U.K.

The media release below just landed in my inbox and I had to share.

GoGo Penguin Releases New Single “Window” 

From Their Forthcoming Album A Humdrum Star

Out Feb. 9 on Blue Note Records

Listen Here

Releases Video for Their First Single “Bardo”

Watch Here

Upcoming U.S. Tour dates include NYC, DC, Los Angeles, Seattle & Chicago; Set To Make Their Bonnaroo Debut In June 2018

GoGo Penguin has released “Window,” a stunning new single from their vivid forthcoming album A Humdrum Star, which is set for release February 9 on Blue Note Records. MOJO awarded the album 4-stars calling it “the most insistent distillation of their potent brand of piano-driven melody and groove.” The UK trio has also announced a US tour, which includes their debut at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival this June. Full list of dates below.

This week the band also released the video for their single “Bardo,” which The New York Times called “hypnotic,” adding that “there’s no need to parse this music; it’s in perpetual motion.” Watch or embed via YouTube: https://youtu.be/lDLzlsf0McM

Different worlds have always collided in the sound of GoGo Penguin. The Manchester-based trio conjure richly atmospheric music that draws from their shared love of electronica, their grounding in classical conservatoires and jazz ensembles alongside indie bands, and a merging of acoustic and electronic techniques. Over the past few years, it has earned them rapturous responses all over the world—The New York Times highlighted them as one of the 12 best bands at SXSW 2017—and proved that they’re just as at home playing to muddy festival goers as jazz fans. A Humdrum Star builds on the heady momentum of its acclaimed predecessors—the 2014 Mercury Prize-nominated V2.0 and their 2016 Blue Note debut Man Made Object—and transports it to new realms.

“I think we felt even more liberated on this album—and I think there’s more of each of us on it,” says bassist Nick Blacka. Their latest material reveals both native turf and far-flung influences. They evoke the symbiotic flow between Nick, pianist Chris Illingworth, and drummer Rob Turner, as well as their seasoned relationship with producer and sound engineer Joe Reiser (credited as the “fourth member” of GGP, both on tour and in the studio) and co-producer Brendan Williams. As with previous albums, these tracks stemmed from a love of electronic music, whether collectively developed from “sketches” written by Rob on DJ/producer tech including Logic and Ableton, or composed on the bass or at the piano. That electro-acoustic tension pulses throughout the new album. 

 

“We started with this idea of ‘inner and outer’, and opposing things that are essentially the same,” says Rob. “A lot of the textures and sounds do come from the electronic writing, but Brendan also wanted everything to be made as organically as possible.” 

 

There is poetry and precision in GoGo Penguin’s new work—and intimacy and vastness. Their titles tend to speak volumes, in tandem with their evocative instrumentals. They’d actually completed the new album’s track-listing before settling on the name for A Humdrum Star—yet it captures a distinctive tone. It’s taken from a quote by American astrophysicist Carl Sagan from his 1980 TV series Cosmos: “Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.”  

 

GOGO PENGUIN – US TOUR DATES

May 4 – Elsewhere – Brooklyn, NY

May 6 – The Hamilton – Washington DC

May 8 – Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA

May 9 – The Loft – San Diego, CA

June 7-10 – Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival – Manchester, TN

June 12 – Dakota Jazz Club – Minneapolis, MN

June 13 – Constellation – Chicago, IL

June 14 – Constellation – Chicago, IL

June 15 – The Armory – Fort Collins, CO

June 16 – Bluebird Theater – Denver, CO

June 17 – Revolution Hall – Portland, OR

June 20 – The Triple Door – Seattle, WA 

Check out what the critics have said about GoGo Penguin:

 

“an energized sound... the band’s new album takes hold right away and sustains an upbeat groove… It’s a piano-driven blend with all the traditional aspects you’d expect from the genre while still scanning as something refreshingly vibrant and contemporary.”— Pitchfork 

 

“…a construction of jazz, classical, electronica, and trip-hop building blocks, it flows together naturally. Their playing centers around delicate piano, which weaves in and out of a tumultuous maelstrom of intense drumming, and a fury that seems to push the limits of what a double bass can achieve.”— SPIN 

 

“With the lineup of a standard piano-bass-drums jazz trio, GoGo Penguin made a different kind of music: repetitive and accretive like dance music, richly chorded over ostinatos, reveling in permutations. As much as it improvised atop its structures, the group burrowed into them, building tension and momentum from within, turning them into meditations or shaping them into galvanizing crescendos that crested in a standing ovation.”— The New York Times 

 

“To ask whether GoGo Penguin plays jazz misses the point of the sense of adventure in contemporary popular music... They are experimentalists in pursuit of superior improvisational music. The groove matters most... the trio knows what it’s doing and does it exceptionally well.”— Wall Street Journal 

 

"Jazz, techno, hip-hop and dubstep are glimpsed here, but for all the looping motifs and dance floor vibes, this is the work of three sure-footed improvisers with deep jazz roots"— The Guardian 

 

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