オーストラリア・メルボルンを拠点に活動するSurprise Chef。自分たちでレーベルを運営するDIY精神を持ち、メンバー全員で共同生活を送るという濃密な絆から生まれるサウンドは、唯一無二のアンサンブルを誇る。

彼らの代表作の一つである『Daylight Savings』は、メルボルンの自宅スタジオで録音された。1960年代後半の名門Capitol Recordsの録音を彷彿とさせる、広大で重量感のある音像が特徴だ。エンジニアのHenry Jenkinsによるアナログ録音技術を駆使した音作りにより、部屋の空気感までもが封じ込められている。

音楽的には70年代のジャズ・ファンクに傾倒しており、リズムセクションに重点を置いたタイトなグルーヴが全編を支配する。David AxelrodやAlain Goraguerといった映画音楽の巨匠が持つドラマチックな展開と、現代のEl Michels Affairなどが持つ洗練された感性が共鳴。ヴィンテージな質感を湛えながらも、決して古臭さを感じさせない瑞々しさに溢れている。

重厚なベースと、空間を浮遊するようなメロディ。スタジオを包んでいたジャスミンの香りや、陽光が差し込む部屋の楽観的な空気を連想させる、温かさ滲み出す一枚。

A1. College Welcome
A2. Deadlines
A3. New Ferrari
A4. Washing Day
A5. College Welcomes Girl
B1. Sick Day
B2. Daylight Savings
B3. Dinner Time
B4. Leave It, Don't Take It
B5. The Limp

Being the humble guys that they are, Surprise Chef aren't going to admit they have something very special going down. However, there must be some magic in their studio, or maybe in the fact they all share a house and have formed close bonds, or perhaps from absorbing the DIY ethos of running their own record label that has culminated in such a unique and enchanting sound.

'Daylight Savings' is the follow-up to the group's debut album 'All News Is Good News’. That album earned the band a much-deserved following across the world and triumphantly marked their arrival onto the international stage. Their new album was recorded in Spring 2019, almost exactly a year after they recorded ‘All News Is Good News’. It was the weekend that daylight savings time started in Australia, and the studio was filled with the smell of the towering Jasmine bush on the exterior back wall of the house. The record is subsequently filled with the optimism that comes with the impending warmer months and longer days in Australia.

Recorded in their own home studio in Melbourne, the production approach for 'Daylight Savings' is a big step up from their debut. Engineer, Henry Jenkins, created enormous-sounding space within this record, using a great deal of creative analogue recording techniques and working in an expansive recording environment. The results are a sound that emulates the massiveness of the late-60s Capitol Records.

‘Daylight Savings' was written collaboratively by the whole band and features the core Surprise Chef rhythm section. It expands upon where their debut left off with a leaning more towards 70's jazzfunk than soul and a stronger focus on the rhythm section. There’s the epic drama, ebbs and flows of a vintage David Axelrod or Alain Goraguer cinematic production, plus the influence of El Michels Affair and Melbourne bands Karate Boogaloo and The Putbacks, yet it still sounds uniquely Surprise Chef. You get a sense of that rare attribute of being both a contemporary band and a band you expect it won't be too long before other producers start sampling them.