Chirpey and the Blue Banana

Chirpey and the Blue Banana is a band from Budapest, Hungary. Active since 2022, its debut album arrived with the current lineup being together for less than a year. Led by songwriter Bálint Bodor (aka. Chirpey), the Blue Banana creates its unique style by blending elements of rock, folk, funk, reggae, soul, jazz, early punk and classical music, dosed with some improvisation and willingness to make mistakes and let those be heard. Members of the band are Lívia Horváth (vocals), Márton Gerber (bass), Barnabás Rontó (drums), and Bodor (guitars, vocals).

The debut album Ecce Musa is written, arranged and produced by Bodor. It features the core band playing the basis of the songs live in the studio, with additional guitars, vocals, horns, violins and keyboards being overdubbed later. The concept was to have a live feel to the album by doing as little editing as possible. Unusual and sometimes old-school recording and mixing techniques were used to achieve a unique sound. Elements of many musical styles are present with self-reflecting lyrics from Chirpey.