WITH influences reaching as far as Brian Eno and Squarepusher, it’s safe to expect the unexpected when experiencing the acid-jazz pop of rising trio GoGo Penguin.

The Manchester-based threesome have continued to evolve in the most exciting way possible since forming in 2012.

It culminated in last year’s album V2.0 being chosen as a Mercury Music Prize Album of 2014 alongside the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club, Jungle, Royal Blood and eventual prize winners Young Father.

Now audiences in Southampton have the chance to see them for the first time when they headline the Turner Sims concert theatre in Salisbury Road on March 14.

The Daily Echo caught up with the band’s multi-instrumentalist Chris Illingsworth ahead of the long-awaited gig.

He said: “At the moment we are in new material time. We have been back in the studio planning the new album, which we will be recording in the summer.

“It seems to be going pretty well so far. There are lots of ideas flying around and we are back in a room with no windows.

“But at the moment we are really excited to get out there on tour.”

GoGo Penguin are renowned for their versatility in playing a variety of venues.

Whether it’s in small clubs or large theatres, they adapt to their surroundings with ease to generate an exhilarating live show.

Chris added: “We have been quite lucky in what we do. We played at the Dimensions festival in Croatia, which was on a beach, and then we played at the Koko and in Giles Petersen’s Dingwalls show.

“We will adapt quite a bit at each venue and there will be a lot of improvised elements.

“We can adjust from the reaction of the audience and our sound engineer is the fourth member of the band – he is a genius in what he does.

“I’m really glad the music we play gets us into all different sorts of venues. We try and play music we put a lot of emotion into, and hopefully that comes across in our performance.

“We are on a jazz label but a lot of people come away from our performances saying that was great and not jazz.”

Tickets are priced between £9 and £18 and available from turnersims.co.uk