GoGo Penguin release their first EP, Between Two Waves, on XXIM Records, marking a special chapter in their career. The project was recorded at the end of 2021 after the lockdown with a new band member, drummer Jon Scott, who joined pianist Chris Illingworth and bassist Nick Blacka.
The sessions took place at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, where the band regrouped to explore new ideas and experiment after the challenging months.
“It was an incredibly meaningful moment for us to be together as a band along with our producers Joe and Brendan, sharing meals like family, enjoying drinks and jokes after long days of work and, most importantly, making music together after so long apart,” explains Chris Illingworth.
The outcome of these sessions is the EP that takes inspiration from the duality found in the major events in human lives, leaving it to a listener to make its interpretation and create a unique emotional response.
“Over the last couple of years, the pandemic has affected everyone; it has brought us together and yet also divided and separated us. In the bands personal lives there has been cause for celebration with the birth of a son but also tragedy with the loss of loved ones. These moments can simultaneously make us feel both loved and isolated, fearful but confident, proud and humbled. For us, the feeling of Ascent is the journey through these experiences in life, always finding another unknown at the end but not something to be scared of, just something new to discover.”
