Melbourne instrumental jazz-funk outfit Surprise Chef have announced they’ll release a new EP titled Friendship in June, sharing breezy, jubilant new single ‘Friendship Theme’ to coincide. The EP was recorded during the sessions for the band’s most recent album – last year’s Education & Recreation – and, according to the band, serves as “a humble monument to the most crucial principle of our band: that the love we share for one another is, at all times, the most important thing.”
Following ‘Pash Rash’ in January and ‘Rosemary Hemphill’ last month, ‘Friendship Theme’ is the third single the band have shared from the EP, which arrives Friday, 2nd June via US label Big Crown Records and Inertia. Listen to that below; pre-orders for Friendship are available here.
Surprise Chief – ‘Friendship Theme’
Surprise Chef released Education & Recreation in October 2022, their third album overall and first for Big Crown. When announcing the album, the Coburg band acknowledged both the limitations and freedoms that came with creating niche music in a place as geographically isolated as Australia.
“Being so far away, we only get glimpses and glances of this music’s origins,” guitarist Lachlan Stuckey said in a statement at the time. “But hearing a label like Big Crown was one of the first times we realized you could make fresh, new soul music that wasn’t super retro or just nostalgic.”
Speaking to Music Feeds in October, Stuckey elaborated on how it felt witnessing a project so locally-oriented develop an international following. “It’s been awesome to see how the music translates overseas, and it’s nice to have Coburg front and centre of it. It’s cool that someone in Glasgow or Cleveland knows about the neighbourhood we live in.”
Next month, Surprise Chef will perform as part of the 16th edition of regional Victorian festival Boogie, alongside the likes of Private Function, Andy Golledge, Full Flower Moon Band and many more. This year’s iteration of the festival will run from Friday, 7th to Sunday, 9th April at its usual home in Tallarook. Tickets are available here.
Further Reading
From Coburg to the World – Surprise Chef Make It Seem Easy on ‘Education & Recreation’
Meredith Music Festival Review – Doofsticks, Neapolitan Disco and Pop Royalty
Lineup Announced for Boogie 2023: Private Function, Surprise Chef, Phil Jamieson and More
