Ahead of the release of their new album Rain Before Seven... due this Friday, Penguin Cafe have shared the video for album opener Welcome to London. The song got its name as the world started to open up and people were finally allowed to fly again. Arthur Jeffes, who touched down on home soil for the first time in a while, was struck by its cinematic John Barry-esque qualities as he took a taxi into West London from Heathrow with the mise-en-scène of the opulent twilight. The optimism is there, and maybe a little caustic irony too. 

Arthur Jeffes of Penguin Cafe explains; “for this track I started with the piano riff which is a 5/4 pattern moving through developing modulations — all the other elements are picking out points in the piano line and developing them. We ended up going quite John Barry with the arrangements — I love that 60’s feel of the Gretsch picking out a low-mid groove while the bassline syncopates underneath it.”

The music video was directed by Mihai Feflea of the London-based production company Full House Films.

When asked to elaborate on the inspiration behind the video, executive producer Robert Raths added, “this video is dedicated to those who feel lost in a place like London and yet make it their home. As someone who moved here from a different country nearly two decades ago, I couldn't help but read the title with a healthy portion of sarcasm. I thought our penguin-headed friend would make for the perfect protagonist here. Writing this script also gave me an opportunity to finally visualise Simon Jeffes' original vision he had of the Penguin Cafe as a magical haven within the concrete jungle when he hallucinated from fish poisoning back in 1972 — something I've always wondered why it hadn't been done before. Because no matter how tough and fast-paced London life can be sometimes, it also contains many pockets of diverse beauty and wonder."

· watch the video for Welcome to London

· pre-order the album on LP · CD · DL

· book tickets for their tour