Since forming in 2017, Melbourne funk quintet Surprise Chef have made music that they humbly define as "mood shades of instrumental jazz-funk." Their sound blends '70s film scores, hip-hop and soul and takes cues from legends like David Axelrod and Isaac Hayes.

Surprise Chef consists of Lachlan Stuckey (guitar), Carl Lindeberg (bass), Jethro Curtin (keys), Andrew Congues (drums), and Hudson Whitlock, who is a "jack-of-all-trades" as percussionist, composer and producer.

Surprise Chef's first two singles ("Stuart Little's Car" and "D.A. Stab Wound") were released in 2018, followed by two albums that same year. Next came 2020's All News Is Good News and Daylight Savings, which are credited for developing the instrumental act's fanbase. Their third album, 2022's Education & Recreation, was their first on Brooklyn soul imprint Big Crown Records.

Surprise Chef will tour Australia, Europe and North America in 2023, bringing an immersive live show that's been described as an "odyssey through dark landscapes of analogue synth-laden funk and left-field library music-esque scenes; a flowing, linear puzzle of vivid minor-key expressions."