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On their eighth studio album, Manchester's GoGo Penguin continues to move away from the structures and formalities of the music one would expect from a bass/drum/piano trio and delves even deeper into the sort of organic/electronic, man/machine, classical jazztronica mutations they've explored for the last 13 years. From the hypnotic, Russian-doll scaffolding of opening track "Umbra" to the throbbing, bass-heavy groove of "State of Flux," and the on-the-nose circularity of "Fallowfield Loops," the trio has found ways to expand their sonic purview while staying true to fans' sonic expectations. However, Necessary Fictions does contain a few surprises, including the gentle piano figure that opens "Forgive the Damages," given GoGo Penguin's propensity for favoring energized musical complexity over typical pop-song structures. After a couple of bars of that solo keyboard comes something even more astonishing: the sound of a voice ... singing lyrics. For a group that's made its reputation as an instrumental juggernaut, the decision to cut a track with vocals is shocking indeed. To be sure, British-Ugandan singer Daudi Matsiko's breathy, low-key vocals are a perfect accompaniment to this somewhat wispy ballad, but the normality of the piece is still quite disorienting on a GoGo Penguin record. Of course, for most of the rest of the album, the group continues to stretch out in many other different directions; even on the similarly pensive (and gorgeous) "The Turn Within," they find a way to evoke the same sort of introspective beauty on "Forgive the Damages," but without vocals anywhere in sight. Also interesting are Necessary Fictions' interstitial bits. Several pieces—all under three minutes long—manage to each contain an epic's worth of dynamic emotions, whether it's the swelling drama of "Living Bricks in Dead Mortar," the glistening bass-and-harp ethereality of "Float (Loi Krathong, 2003)," or the ominous ambience of "Background Hiss Reminds Me of Rain." © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz
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Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Nick Blacka, Composer - Daudi Matsiko, Composer, Lyricist, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - GoGo Penguin feat. Daudi Matsiko, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Rakhi Singh, Composer, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Manchester Collective, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - GoGo Penguin feat. Rakhi Singh and Manchester Collective, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Rakhi Singh, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Manchester Collective, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - GoGo Penguin feat. Manchester Collective, AssociatedPerformer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Jon Scott, Composer - Norman Nitzsche, Mastering Engineer - Nick Blacka, Composer - GoGo Penguin, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Chris Illingworth, Composer - Joseph Reiser, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer - Brendan Williams, Producer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Album review
On their eighth studio album, Manchester's GoGo Penguin continues to move away from the structures and formalities of the music one would expect from a bass/drum/piano trio and delves even deeper into the sort of organic/electronic, man/machine, classical jazztronica mutations they've explored for the last 13 years. From the hypnotic, Russian-doll scaffolding of opening track "Umbra" to the throbbing, bass-heavy groove of "State of Flux," and the on-the-nose circularity of "Fallowfield Loops," the trio has found ways to expand their sonic purview while staying true to fans' sonic expectations. However, Necessary Fictions does contain a few surprises, including the gentle piano figure that opens "Forgive the Damages," given GoGo Penguin's propensity for favoring energized musical complexity over typical pop-song structures. After a couple of bars of that solo keyboard comes something even more astonishing: the sound of a voice ... singing lyrics. For a group that's made its reputation as an instrumental juggernaut, the decision to cut a track with vocals is shocking indeed. To be sure, British-Ugandan singer Daudi Matsiko's breathy, low-key vocals are a perfect accompaniment to this somewhat wispy ballad, but the normality of the piece is still quite disorienting on a GoGo Penguin record. Of course, for most of the rest of the album, the group continues to stretch out in many other different directions; even on the similarly pensive (and gorgeous) "The Turn Within," they find a way to evoke the same sort of introspective beauty on "Forgive the Damages," but without vocals anywhere in sight. Also interesting are Necessary Fictions' interstitial bits. Several pieces—all under three minutes long—manage to each contain an epic's worth of dynamic emotions, whether it's the swelling drama of "Living Bricks in Dead Mortar," the glistening bass-and-harp ethereality of "Float (Loi Krathong, 2003)," or the ominous ambience of "Background Hiss Reminds Me of Rain." © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 12 track(s)
- Total length: 00:48:39
- 1 Digital booklet
- Main artists: GoGo Penguin
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: XXIM Records
- Genre: Electronic
(P) 2025 GoGo Penguin, under exclusive license to XXIM Records, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
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