There is something simultaneously both brand-new and retro about All News Is Good News - the debut album from Melbourne’s instrumental soul group Surprise Chef.

It sounds like something dreamt up by lo-fi cousins of David Axelrod and Janko Nilovic, with dramatic Library-music-eqsue cinematic arrangements echoing both light and dark, delving into moments of dissonance and positivity. There is a meticulous education of 1970’s soul on display that touches on the legacies of the great composer / producers, yet at the same time this is a truly contemporary record that could have only been made now.

The warm-raw-authenticity of the album was captured in the recordings live to tape over a handful of sessions in the band’s home studio in Melbourne’s inner-northern suburb of Coburg. The results are a captivating journey of instrumental cinematic-soul that will connect with the hardened Axelrod, Truth and Soul, El Michels Affair, and Daptone’s fans, as well as the open-minded first-time listener.