Well, since we started to go down the rabbit hole of penguin bands again, time to return to the one with the longest running roots; Penguin Cafe of Arthur Jeffes. The latest fully-new album of Penguin Cafe dates back to 2019 and is a special one in many ways.

First of, Handfuls of Nights is the so-far-only Penguin Cafe (or Penguin Cafe Orchestra) project to focus on penguins. Each track is, according to Jeffes, a soundtrack for the lives of penguins that call Antarctica their home. And it works – the calm otherworldliness you'd associate with both the continent and our favourite aquatic birds very tangible.

But things go even deeper. As much as the album focuses on penguins, it is also about Antarctica, to which Jeffes family has a connection. The famed explorer Robert F. Scott – yes, of the Scott expeditions fame – was married to Arthur Jeffes' grand-mother prior to marrying his grandfather. On this note, on the anniversary of Scott's last Antarctic expedition, BBC recreated it with Edwardian era equipment – and Arthur was asked to join in.

He has used his experience from the trip as a basis for a lot of the non-penguin songs, capturing the haunting, desolate and cold snowscapes in beautiful sonic form.

I find this album hard to review objectively as it hits almost every single point on 'this was made specifically for me' checklist; I love penguins and my favourite type of music is world of concept albums and soundtracks. And here we have a concept album about penguins from one of my favourite artists, composed as a soundtrack for the Antarctica.

So obviously my take is; 20 out of 10 stars, I love it, go get it!