Surprise Chef - Frogs In A Pond

Frogs In A Pond is the fifth studio album by Australia instrumental jazz funk band Surprise Chef, released in October 2026 via Concord Jazz.

The album was recorded over a nine day period during which the band were themselves Frogs In A Pond: slimy companions splashing about in a small but complex ecosystem, for a brief time having little interaction with or knowledge of the world outside our tiny realm.

The composition of the music was intended to utilize techniques inspired by approaches in film scores: principally, the repetition and interpolation of musical themes used to represent concepts, moods and feelings across the album.

The musical influence for the album came primarily from a handful of European film composers working in the late 60s and early 70s who used drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion and vibraphone rather

than large orchestras to express musical themes that evoke enthralling senses of drama and emotion without the listener having watched the film for which the music was composed.

Based in Australia, Surprise Chef’s music is based on evoking mood; their vivid arrangements utilize time and space to build soundscapes that invite the listener into their world. Surprise Chef is Lachlan Stuckey on guitar, Jethro Curtin on keys, Carl Lindeberg on bass, Andrew Congues on drums, and Hudson Whitlock; the latest member who does it all from percussion to composing to producing.

This album is on compact disc housed in a gatefold digisleeve, pressed in Europe via Concord Jazz.