reviews / 2025

GOGO PENGUIN - Necessary Fictions

Name: GOGO PENGUIN – Necessary Fictions
Item: Necessary Fictions
Rating: 7.5
Author: Marco Sgrignoli

2025 (Xxim records)

nu jazz

by Marco Sgrignoli

7.5

It's easy to speak ill of GoGo Penguin. But it's just as easy to speak well of them. Their formula, balanced between jazz, minimalism and Intelligent Dance Music, manages to marry accessibility and poise, brio and consistency, lightness and atmospheric quality. For some, it's a guarantee of elegance and imagination; for others, it's nothing more and nothing less than trite, inexpressive muzak, dressed up with a jazzy veneer just to set it apart from so much pseudo-new age fluff.

Over here their name isn't exactly well known, and so perhaps it isn't too divisive either. Then again, in Italy nu jazz doesn't exactly set the world on fire – though around Brescia and Milan a few event organizers have started taking an interest in the scene. Internationally, though, the genre does have some resonance, and with close to five hundred thousand monthly Spotify listeners, the British trio is unquestionably the most representative name in terms of audience reach. For many, then, approaching the band's seventh album will be inevitable with an opinion already fairly well formed about the merits of what they do.

Best to make this clear right away: “Necessary Fictions” both upends and confirms the expectations of fans and detractors alike. It doesn't take a single step back from the most polarizing elements of the formula: an impeccably polished sound, a heavy dose of Einaudi-style piano, occasional electronic openings, plenty of room for Squarepusher-esque drumming flourishes, and none – to the usual horror of jazz purists – for improvisation. And yet, compared to the records immediately preceding it, it undoubtedly brings a fresh breeze. Two years ago, "Everything Is Going To Be Ok" was the first album without Rob Turner on drums, and newcomer Jon Scott seemed very busy trying to show he was in line with his predecessor. The tracks delivered the expected dose of tightrope-walking rhythms and featherlight drumming, but personal flair was missing, and the supposed added value of the swap was hard to detect.

Here, though – and the very first track, "Umbra", is enough to make it clear – the alchemy reignites and the machine goes back to pushing toward more adventurous horizons. On "Fallowfield Loops" Scott lays down a broken beat pattern that's as unstable and sturdy as anything the band has ever put together before. "What We Are And What We Are Meant To" is built on pure soft/loud dynamics, but instead of the soaring guitars of Explosions In The Sky, what guides us through its five-plus minutes of climaxes and shifting atmospheres are unprecedented jazz/Dubstep intersections, plus a piano ostinato that would hold its own in a progressive trance hit by Robert Miles.

The effectiveness of the piano theme is no exception: it's precisely within the melodic euphoria of refrain by Chris Illingworth lies – together with rhythmic ease – the other key element that makes much of the album's material instantly memorable. The dazzling twists of "State Of Flux", which meet the strings of Rakhi Singh and her Manchester Collective, the zigzagging appearances of "Naga Ghost", once again interwoven with a fractured Dubstep pulse: each track draws its own map, with Illingworth's piano acting as a steady compass through ever-new routes. Yet without ever trying to dominate the scene at all costs: and so, when "Forgive The Damages" calls for making room for the muffled voice of British-Ugandan guest Daudi Matsiko, the piano knows how to step back into a supporting role, opening up one of the album's most unique moments, with an almost folktronic feel.

In conclusion: "Necessary Fictions" may lack the surprise factor that made "v. 2.0" so explosive, or the expressive maturity of "Man Made Object" and the 2020 self-titled album (the last with Turner), but it's undoubtedly the most dynamic and varied record the band has released in its career. It reaches this milestone with consistency, bringing in new solutions without ever setting aside or watering down the distinctive traits of the GoGo Penguin style. "The Turn Withtin", the longest track on the record at nearly six minutes, is emblematic of this understated multiplicity: between fullness and emptiness, its constant metamorphoses pull you into a cinematic flow without ever reaching for emphasis or sleight of hand. The warm tones of Nick Blacka's double bass balance out the abstract, floating timbres of the electronics.

Of course, for some, the admirable balance of this new album will be just another chance to accuse the band of an austere, none-too-intoxicating calculatedness. But for everyone else – early fans, longtime skeptics always on the lookout for some spark, and, heaven knows, even those discovering the trio's music only now – it will be hard to find a good excuse not to listen to it.

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02/06/2025

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Marco Sgrignoli, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition