Surprise Chef are a funk/soul/jazz group from Melbourne who have been releasing music since 2018. They made their debut on Big Crown last year with their third LP, Education & Recreation. Now they’ve returned with a follow-up EP, Friendship.

Surprise Chef are a four-piece group, but they’ve always managed to make their sound feel much bigger than that, with some really full arrangements that give their funk a cinematic feel. This makes sense when you consider that they cite David Axelrod and Isaac Hayes as two of their biggest influences. On Friendship, they pick up right where they left off with Education & Recreation, establishing these really gritty and funky grooves that just immediately suck you in and will have you feet tapping and your head nodding, but then filling out those grooves with melodies that stick with you and songs that develop and take you on this emotional journey. What makes Surprise Chef really work, though, is the way in which each individual player is exceptional, but everyone is always playing their part to make the whole bigger than the sum of the parts. This gives the music this really cinematic grandeur that takes the funk over the top. Friendship is only a six-song EP, but because of this songwriting, arranging, and the chemistry between bandmates, it feels like a much deeper and rewarding listening experience than you might initially expect.

Friendship EP might look like a filler release on paper, but Surprise Chef isn’t in the business of putting out music to take up space. They want to deliver some killer funk that will take you on a journey, and they’ve done just that with this EP.