Walk with the Penguin is a collaboration between Japan’s steelpianist/sound artist Yoshio Machida and Serbian post-folk band Cinc released on the experimental Amorfon record label. A nice crossover album, one would not imagine something like Walk with the Penguin exists - you would have to come across it, perhaps by chance.
The post folk element of Walk with the Penguin is arranged lightly with steelpan sounds, very active violin lines, light folk vocals (sometimes in Serbian), keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars. What comes across from such a merging of traditions is something reminiscent of New Wave Pop, or pop-electronica along the lines of Yo La Tengo, Lambchop and etc. It pushes any kind of generalizations aside by using different effects like a vocoder on the eighth track for “a hero is active in moon night” and on track nine.
Walk with the Penguin is probably more enjoyable if you don’t try to place it in any particular genre; it is a disparate mix of elements - very ambient and enjoyable as pure, uncategorized sound.
