Professor Penguin is the creation of singer songwriter Jonny Abraham. Initially started as a college project, Professor Penguin has grown to a nine piece band with a substantial following. After receiving widespread radio support and praise from Brian Eno for their single “Pilot”, the group are set to release their debut album Planes on 9th April.
Planes immerses you into Abraham's unique sound world. It is an interesting mix of guitar orientated songs with added ingredients of strings, brass and ambience. Stir and simmer gently et voilà! The result is a collection of delicate songs with a dream-like quality.
Various themes run throughout the album, uniting the songs. Before even hearing the album, the eye is drawn to the fact that the title of each track begins with the letter “P”. No doubt this is Jon's sense of humour, keeping to the alliteration of the band name. Musically, there are recurring spacious brass themes, arresting string arrangements and smooth, rounded backing vocal “ah”s.
The album opens with the song “Pilot”, announced by an exciting jazzy trill. It fades to give way to a rhythmic dialogue between soft muted trumpets and a guitar. The guitar's clean tone coupled with the rapid circling rhythms of the trumpets gives the song a weightless quality. The whole opening is cleverly put together to successfully create the illusion of flight. The “ooh”s and “ah”s of the future backing vocals are first heard here. They feature as the main vocal line in the latter half of the song, setting up the idea for the rest of the album.
“Pirate”, the second single of the album, is more of a typical indie guitar based song with a fuzz guitar solo. However it is enhanced by the ethereal backing vocals and phonetically clever lyric “and terror flies over and I'm terrified over”.
There are two outstanding moments on the album. The first is during the final third of “Power Plants”. After a brief moment of silence the music resumes with haunting vocal “ah”s accompanied by a meandering guitar line. The guitar gains a sense of purpose with the inclusion of the bass, percussion and brass arrangement but still retains an air of drifting. The vocals fade out, leaving the brass to conclude the track. Its purity and relaxed dreamy feel make it a point of beauty.
The other impressive event is “Planes 2”. It begins with violins playing an eerie mix of glissandi and pizzicato notes. The brass and bass guitar gradually join to create an opposing mix of sounds. The bass aggressively repeats an ominous sounding note while the brass play a calm, amiable chord sequence. The serenity of the brass is subverted by the supernatural strings and forceful bass. It is one of the most interesting beginnings to a pop song I've heard in a while. Seamlessly it fades into the pleasant sounds of the full band intro, with the return of the famous “ah”s and addition of a xylophone. The closing of the song echoes the beginning but with a sense of resolve. The violins return, though instead of eerie slides they perform a majestic sweeping motif.
This album has cleverly integrated live and sequenced sounds to form an atmospheric collection of songs. Attention to detail in the production has shaped the album into an ambient dream world unique to Professor Penguin. The tranquil nature of it's songs make it an ideal album for relaxing to. While it is a well crafted record, many of the tracks sound similar. In the wrong frame of mind this may lead to restlessness or boredom. It is an album which you must give your entire attention in order to fully appreciate its intricacies. A good debut to establish their individual sound.
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