Australia's Surprise Chef prep new LP, touring around Desert Daze (stream "Suburban Breeze")

Melbourne, Australia’s Surprise Chef have been cooking up a blend of psych, funk, jazz, soul and ’60s soundtrack music for a few years now, and are set to release their third album, Education & Recreation, on October 14 on Big Crown Records. The band are also gearing up for their first North American tour, which is around their appearance at California’s Desert Daze fest.

We’ve got the premiere of the very groovy, flute-peppered “Suburban Breeze,” which the band note was written with flautist Erica Tucceri in mind. “We wanted to write some tunes that would suit her playing for Education & Recreation,” the band’s Lachlan Stuckey says. “Erica has incredible tone and articulation, so I wrote a slow joint with a real spacious, introspective melody in a section that doesn’t repeat, like a singular statement. The tune was one of several we wrote during spring; we weren’t trying to represent that in particular, but I think those songs are inadvertently imbued with the feeling of spring in Coburg, where we live. My favourite part of the track is Hudson’s cold-as-ice bell part that really makes the quiet section bump.”

If you dig Khruangbin, David Axelrod, the Daptone universe, or Lalo Schifrin, definitely give this a spin. Listen to “Suburban Breeze” below.

Surprise Chef’s tour kicks off at Desert Daze and wraps up in Brooklyn on October 13 at The Sultan Room. All dates are listed below.

Education & Recreation:
1. A1 Bakery Pledge of Allegiance
2. Grinners Circle
3. Velodrome
4. Suburban Breeze
5. Conversation Piece
6. Iconoclasts
7. Money Music
8. Spring’s Theme
9. Together Again
10. Winter’s Theme
11. Ten & Two
12. Goldie’s Lullaby

Surprise Chef – 2022 Tour Dates
Oct 1-2 – Lake Perris, CA – Desert Daze
Oct 4 – Zebulon – Los Angeles, CA
Oct 5 – Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA
Oct 7 – Star Theater – Portland, OR
Oct 8 – Fox Cabaret – Vancouver, BC
Oct 9 – Barboza – Seattle, WA
Oct 13 – Sultan Room – Brooklyn, NY