GoGo Penguin: Everything Is Going to Be OK

There is clearly something different about GoGo Penguin on their sixth full-length: where they've previously had a pattern of evocative titles and vaguely futuristic abstract covers, this one (at first glance) looks and reads almost like a greeting card. This also comes after one-third of the trio changed with 2022's interim EP, Between Two Waves (Sony/XXIM). Underneath the wrapping, though, it's recognizably the same evolving not-jazz-not-techno mix that they've made into their own niche, even when taking time to touch grass (or just watch the birds) for a while.

Part of the fascination (as always) lies in how they shape the piano trio's traditional analogue sound. Jon Scott sounds nicely settled in his new role on the drum stool, with a series of snappy bubbling grooves more organic than static. Chris Illingworth's piano exists half in rave-chill territory thanks to playing with reverb and semi-muffled strings. The likes of "Saturnine" or "Parasite" spin these colorful bonging and shimmering tones into a kind of acoustic Afro-dub, while "Soon Comes Night" pans some echoing piano notes back and forth until it feels trippy enough for an actual dance riff.

Everything Is Going To Be OK often leans on those dreamy feels for emotional depth, coming as the product of a very emotional time for the trio. Both personal losses and personal connections add to the lows and highs this time around. Nick Blacka bows his bass to provide some resonant shades for the album's vastest cinematic peaks, and his and Illingworth's solo interludes make the band's most starkly thoughtful moments to date.

But an album with this title cannot stay too low for too long, and the bittersweet is offset with its share of moments like the recurring "You're Stronger Than You Think," which go from floaty to buoyant. It makes a promising launch for GGP 3.0, showing all their fun grooving and epic sweeping shaded with a little more heart.