Surprise Chef’s The Friendship EP has been out just over a month now and follows Education & Recreation – their highly successful first long player for Big Crown Records at the end of last year. Having just finished touring Europe, the band are shortly to play home town Melbourne before embarking on a two-month North American tour through August and September. As you can appreciate, that doesn’t leave much time to write music. Which is where this comes in. The Friendship EP, is a six-tracker intended to tide you over until the new album (which will be their fourth overall since 2019!) due next year. As we’ve come to expect, what you get here is quality, evocative instrumental gear on the cinematic/ soul/ library music axis with a modern twist. Opener Rosemary Hemphill, provides summery psychedelic thrills while Friendship Theme‘s clavinet-led affair nods to blaxploitation OSTs of yore and the Over The Moon delivers a moment of retro synth-drenched contemplation. On the second half, Talent Stick goes uptempo for some cop-show incidental grooving, the six-minute-plus Pash Rash is the previously-released slow-builder and Spiky Boi is the lively closer with super-clattery percussion.
(Out now on Big Crown)