In occasione del 20° anniversario della morte di Simon
Jeffes,
Erased Tapes ha l’onore di stampare in vinile “Union
Cafe”,
l’ultimo album di Penguin Cafe Orchestra precedente
alla scomparsa
del padre fondatore nel 1997, nonchè l’unico album del
collettivo
mai stampato in vinile
PENGUIN CAFE ORCHESTRA
“Union Cafe”
Nati agli inizi degli anni ’70 da Simon Jeffes, The Penguin Cafe
Orchestra sono un curioso ensemble britannico che, tra suoni classici, folk ed
atmosfere new age,
hanno conquistato il mondo intero.
Dopo la morte del padre nel 1997, Arthur Jeffes ha riportato in
vita l’iconico collettivo
dietro il nome di Penguin Cafe, senza ma allontanarsi dal concetto
di “folklore immaginario”, come amava definirsi lo stesso Arthur.
Penguin Cafe sono tuttora attivi ed hanno recentemente pubblicato,
lo scorso maggio,
“The Imperfect Sea”,
l’ultimo album di studio sempre su etichetta Erased Tapes
“Union Cafe” pre-order link:
“Union Cafe” è anticipato dal brano “Nothing
Really Blue”:
"I was 17
when Simon Jeffes passed away and sadly I never got the chance to meet him
whilst he was still walking this earth with his infamous Penguin Cafe Orchestra. There are some parallels between our lives
that could simply be rationalised by the fact that anyone that loves music
travels a lot. But from what I know about Simon we both seem to believe in
something beyond that, something more magical that cannot be explained by
numbers alone. For example, the fact that Kyoto had both a special impact on
his and my life as the city where he found the harmonium on which he’d write
his possibly most famous piece of music and the one where I found the love of
my life. Or the fact that we both got severely poisoned by eating bad seafood
in the south of France. Although admittedly I can’t say that my bed-bound days
of hallucinations come anywhere close to the grandeur of his recurring vision;
one of a George Orwell type of desolate future with people living in concrete
buildings, hearing without listening, making love and music without touching.
It was only the other day that I heard Simon’s son Arthur tell this story for a
BBC documentary on the Erased Tapes tenth anniversary festivities inside one of
London’s largest brutalist buildings, the Southbank Centre, and in a time when
making music and love over the internet is seen as something perfectly normal.
I wasn’t aware until then that our shared near-death experience in France
propelled Simon to dream up a place called the Penguin Cafe, where penguins
serve the Japanese soul food that is Okonomiyaki and wine that makes you feel
lighter, float even — a colourful, magical place far away from those big grey
buildings where everyone is neutral, numb and anonymous. And so he’d form the Penguin Cafe Orchestra and dedicate his
life to writing the joyful music the band would play in that cafe.
The first song
from Union Cafe that I’d unknowingly
heard was Nothing Really Blue,
performed live by Arthur and his successor band Penguin Cafe at the Barbican in
summer 2016 — another icon in brutalist architecture. He simply announced it as
“another one of my dad’s”, and left me wondering all night about which record
it was from. Considering myself a decent collector of their music, I thought
I’d heard it all. Well, I clearly hadn’t. Another mystery? I forgot to ask when
I first met Arthur that night, but it marked the start of our relationship as
kindred spirits. For everyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of witnessing it yet,
hearing Arthur play his father’s songs with so much joy and gusto truly feels
like meeting old friends. And it’s the most beautiful reminder of how
everything in this world is connected. It’s one thing to accept growth and
decay as a constant passing on of energy and knowledge, from one generation to
the next. But I really can’t imagine the kind of love that Simon must feel if
only he had the chance to see his son right now, performing his songs in front
of thousands of people on both sides of the planet each night.
It wasn’t until
summer 2017, a whole year later, that Arthur shared his father’s last studio
recordings with me. Union Cafe is a
record that somehow missed me, simply because it wasn’t available on vinyl like
the other records were that I had gathered over the years. I couldn't help but
feel privileged for the chance to discover another original PCO album. And so I
put my headphones on and lay down at the foot of the small lake in Victoria
Park to listen to this box of treasures. And as with all of Simon’s works, a
whole world appeared in front of my closed eyelids — a world full of love and
wonder, that manages to put tears in my eyes, shivers down my spine and a smile
on my face. Scherzo And Trio would
become the song that manages to brighten up my days, no matter how grey London
sometimes gets. Organum would become
the piece that Arthur played at my wedding. Cage Dead with its déjà vu-like character would become the theme
song to a series of live sessions with artists from all around the world
performing in the Sound Gallery, our new home on 174 Victoria Park Road. Songs like Silver Star Of
Bologna and Kora Kora, just like
all the classic PCO songs, would feel familiar, though I’d never heard them
before. Lie Back And Think Of England
sounded like the work of a seasoned composer and yet unfamiliar at the same
time — it made me wonder if Simon was planning a new adventure for his
orchestra. Lastly, Passing Through
would remind me that having a hidden track on your album was very popular with
bands in the 90s, but finishing your album with the sound of water dripping out
of a sink, slowly forming a musical pattern within all the chaos before the
record suddenly ends, surely must be the most perfect way to say goodbye.
“Dear Simon. Even though
we never met, strangely I too feel like I lost a friend on December 11, 1997.
And I like to think it’s simply down to the music that you left us, the songs
that have become some of the best companions one could ask for, reminding us
that there’s an alternative to the prison we’ve built
ourselves. And that with every song I get one step closer to the magical world
you’ve created, and that Arthur continues to create. I like to think that if I
keep listening, maybe one day we will all unite in the Penguin Cafe, so I can
tell you all about the wonderful son you and Emily have raised. And so I can
thank you for all the love you’ve given this world.”– Robert
Raths
Arthur
very kindly gave access to the original Union Cafe painting that currently
lives in his North London home studio, created by Arthur’s mother Emily Young
and now photographed by Alex Kozobolis for this special reissue edition.
Ufficio Stampa
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