Frogs in a Pond is the fifth studio album from Surprise Chef, the Melbourne instrumental outfit whose core lineup is guitarist Lachlan Stuckey, keyboardist Jethro Curtin, bassist Carl Lindeberg, and drummer Andrew Congues. Three of them share a house in Coburg, which also hosts their self-built analog studio, the College of Knowledge, and a decade of playing together shows. It’s their first release for Concord Jazz, recorded almost entirely live over nine days, and it runs thirteen tracks across forty minutes. The band drew on Italian giallo cinema and the European film composers of the sixties and seventies, and the result plays like a suite, a soundtrack to a mysterious film that doesn’t quite exist.
What makes Frogs in a Pond so compelling is how deceptively simple it sounds. There’s a do-it-yourself genius at work, a strong, easygoing vibe that hangs together as a whole rather than a string of showpieces. It’s music that makes your ears do a double take: familiar, like something you heard in another life, yet entirely fresh. “Frog Technique” was the first to stop me in my tracks, with its funky, vintage groove. “I Love What You’ve Done with the Place” feels like a big simmering pot, where you lift the lid now and then, take a whiff, and see what’s bubbling toward the top, fitting for a band called Surprise Chef. And at barely a minute, “Duet” is the marrow of the record, setting the whole experience in motion, forward and back. Each track has its own topography, with nothing repetitive and nothing unoriginal, and it’s a great ride from start to finish.
By the time the title track arrives, there’s a real sense of importance about it. Frogs in a Pond has been a unique and somewhat mysterious listening experience, but it shouldn’t be taken lightly. And if you’re hosting a get-together on Halloween, this disc is the perfect guest for the evening, setting the mood while you’re off answering the door. Surprise Chef have made a record that rewards a full, front-to-back sit-down, and in their first outing for Concord Jazz, they sound like a band at the height of their powers.
