Arthur Jeffes

Arthur William Phoenix Young Jeffes (born 21 July 1978, Paddington, London) is an English composer, musician and arctic explorer.^[1] He is the founder and frontman of the musical group Penguin Cafe and is one half of the band Sundog.^[2]

Early life

Jeffes was born in London to the artist Emily Young and musician and composer, Simon Jeffes. Jeffes's interest in experimental music was recognised by his father when he took a hammer to the keys of his father's piano.<ref name=A voyage round my father's orchestra>"A voyage round my father's orchestra". The Guardian. 12 June 2009. </ref> While both of his parents nurtured his musicality he was encouraged to base any career on a strong academic background. He read Archaeology and Anthropology at Trinity College, Cambridge.^[3]

Penguin Cafe

In 2007, Jeffes brought original members Penguin Cafe Orchestra for a set of memorial concerts ^[4] to mark ten years since his father's death.^[5] Encouraged by the public's response to the concerts, Jeffes decided that keeping his father's music alive and adding to the mythology behind the band was a worthwhile endeavour. He founded the Penguin Cafe with a brand new line-up, including Cass Browne of Gorillaz, Neil Codling of Suede, Oli Langford of Florence and the Machine and Darren Berry of Razorlight.^[6] Penguin Cafe have performed on stage playing works of Simon Jeffes and their own pieces. They have released two albums, A Matter of Life... (2008) and The Red Book (2014).

The International Space Orchestra

In 2012, Jeffes was commissioned by the artist Nelly Ben-Hayoun to write several pieces for the NASA Kepler Project to be played by the International Space Orchestra.^[7][8] The pieces "1420" and "Aurora" were beamed into Space in 2013. "1420" was inspired by the WOW! signal.

Discography

• A Matter of Life... (2011)
• The Red Book (2014)

References