Surprise Chef

Formed in 2017 in the suburbs of Melbourne, Surprise Chef develops an instrumental repertoire at the crossroads of funk, soul, jazz and 1970s film music, with an approach marked by a sense of atmosphere and space. The Australian quintet builds tracks with precise arrangements, where keyboards, rhythm guitar, flute and the rhythm section sketch a sound that is at once hushed, flexible and highly narrative, linked as much to jazz funk as to the aesthetics of hip-hop samples. Surprise Chef first drew attention with All News Is Good News in 2019, then Daylight Savings in 2020, two albums that established this identity made of slow grooves, discreet tensions and cinematic textures. The group then joined the New York label Big Crown Records, on which it released Education & Recreation in 2022, confirming the evolution of its writing without changing its aesthetic course. Anchored in studio work while touring internationally, Surprise Chef refines a compact instrumental formula, without showiness, where each track advances by nuance rather than by effect.