If you are wondering what a penguin has to do with a Zeppelin, read that title again. There’s an ‘a’ in Tom Penaguin, and he’s French, so his name is pronounced more like penaga than penagwin. And the airship is from the artwork for his experimental project, Soundtrack for Places I’ve Never Been Vol 1.

But, today, we are going to concentrate on what Tom regards as his first full solo album.

Released on 5th April 2024, Tom Penaguin harks back to the halcyon days of early prog rock. Following in the footsteps of Yes, Genesis and King Crimson, there were bands taking a slightly less radical approach to moving rock music forward: bands like Caravan, Camel, Egg, National Health, and Hatfield and the North. This is where the multi-instrumentalist T.P. has pitched his composing tent.

The album starts with tantalising electronic effects as if to say, “put aside all your preconceptions, open your ears, and listen”. Then, quite soon, we are invited to peer into a microscope and marvel at the details of a Housefly Leg. It holds our attention quietly for the next 14 and a half minutes. This is followed by Aborted Long Piece No. 2, which turns out to be a Bach-inspired exercise in uneven bar lengths. It is cut short by the Arrival of the Great Hedgehog, slowly snuffling into the studio, demanding a slot to demonstrate its excellent guitar chops. The hedgehog’s performance must have offended the camping kit, though, because as soon as its fat spiky form got out of the way, The Stove Packed Up and Left, leaving us to applaud a most satisfying excursion into 1970s Canterbury-style prog rock.

On this, his eponymous album, Tom Penaguin composed all the music, played all the instruments, recorded the sounds and operated the mixing desk. It is an impressive first offering.

I’ve been trying to make this album since I was 17 years old, but never quite had the knowledge, the instruments nor the gear to do it properly until then.

Tom Penaguin, from the album’s Bandcamp page