The stop-animation film Mary and Max gets me every time. As simply as closing my eyes, I can see that yellow, post-it plastered ceiling, and Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s Perpetuum Mobile would waft in automagically through imaginary ears. It’s amazing how far music that literally goes nowhere indefinitely can take you.
The name Penguin Cafe has been revived by the late Simon Jeffes’ son, Arthur. The new Orchestra is distinctively more emotive, in contrast to the intentional austerity of the original. “Cantorum”, a cut from their forthcoming new record The Imperfect Sea, pushes that emotional edge still further. Over 7 minutes, it first builds a bleak North Sea soundscape and then sets violins sailing across it. Some have called it uplifting, but I would call it defiant. And I defy you not to listen.