_DESCRIPTION_:
(2020) Penguin Cafe - Handfuls of Night (Explored)
Review:
…Special Edition of their acclaimed 2019 album featuring a Track-by-Track audio commentary by Arthur Jeffes, plus a bonus track titled “More Milk”. In 2018, as part of a project commissioned by Greenpeace with the intention of raising awareness about the endangered Antarctic environment, Arthur Jeffes wrote four songs about specific species of penguins native to the continent. As Jeffes became enamored by their characteristics, he began to fantasize an entire world of anthropomorphic penguins, and he developed this concept into the fourth Penguin Cafe album. The nine compositions on Handfuls of Night serve as a soundtrack to this imaginary penguin world, and as one might expect of Penguin Cafe, they’re as playful as they are poignant. The mainly acoustic arrangements, occasionally dusted with a touch of granular synthesis, are warm and lively, capturing the spirit of the penguins going about their daily activities while the endless sunlight illuminates the subzero tundra. “Chinstrap” depicts one of the more social types of penguins, and is appropriately playful, while “Gentoo Origin” is befitting of a species that is both athletic and romantic. “The Life of an Emperor” is perhaps the most dramatic piece, with swelling strings characterizing the brave, regal beings. “Adelie,” named after the smallest, most curious penguins who can dive incredibly deep, is tense and fragile, resembling a weightless journey through the sea. Beyond the pieces written about specific penguins, the ones that illustrate scenes and concepts are some of the most adventurous on the album. “Chapter” is based on the idea of a penguin detective caper, and it evokes a calm sense of drama with its industrious strings and distant, melodious pianos. “Pythogaras on the Line Again” is an interpretation of a piece which appeared on Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s final album from 1993, using sampled dial tones to demonstrate the principles of harmonics. Conveying a sense of childlike wonder about the natural world, the album is full of life and immensely enjoyable.
Tracklist:
01 - Winter Sun (Audio Commentary)
02 - Winter Sun
03 - Chinstrap (Audio Commentary)
04 - Chinstrap
05 - Chapter (Audio Commentary)
06 - Chapter
07 - Adelie (Audio Commentary)
08 - Adelie
09 - At the Top of the Hill, They Stood… (Audio Commentary)
10 - At the Top of the Hill, They Stood
11 - Pythagoras On the Line Again (Audio Commentary)
12 - Pythagoras On the Line Again
13 - The Life of an Emperor (Audio Commentary)
14 - The Life of an Emperor
15 - Gentoo Origin (Audio Commentary)
16 - Gentoo Origin
17 - Midnight Sun (Audio Commentary)
18 - Midnight Sun
19 - Handfuls of Night (Audio Commentary)
20 - More Milk (Bonus Track)
Media Report:
Genre: ambient, classical
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits |
-