Chromo Sud

Every lyric in Wellness comes from a UK newspaper article about the daily routines of influencers, repeated word for word because truth seems stranger than fiction at the moment.


Living Isn't Easy is the new album from Irish improvising post-punk/jazz group Robocobra Quartet.

“This album is all about aspiration - the things we aspire to and the things we are told to aspire to: work, success, family, health and wealth"

Loosely based around one central character negotiating the absurdity of modern life, the record glimpses into childhood trauma; the mundanity of office work; the mania of corporate culture; sexual identity and the cult of wellness.

Produced by drummer/vocalist and bandleader Chris W Ryan (whose production credits include Just Mustard, NewDad, Junk Drawer and many other up-and-coming artists out of Ireland), the recording sessions were laid out with specific intentions: All of the vocals on the album were recorded in one sitting in order to give a sense of the same perspective and tone from the narrator across the album, with his voice becoming increasingly worn and exhausted by the time the album closer "Night" comes around.

On lead single Wellness, a chaotic ear-worm about how the process of healing sometimes leads us to something even more toxic: "Every lyric in this track comes from a newspaper article I read about the daily routines of influencers. There’s a song by The Fall called Dr Buck’s Letter where Mark E Smith reads out an interview by Pete Tong and there's a beautiful absurdity to it so I thought I should just repeat this article verbatim as it didn't need any fictionalising at all". The opening riff was put together from the idea of trying to merge a classic swing/jazz drum part with the kind of bass-line you’d hear in a song by Black Flag or Minor Threat."

The band's hometown of Belfast has seen glimpses of the spotlight in the past year, with the local art group Array Collective winning the Turner Prize and Kenneth Branagh Oscar-nominated film Belfast (2021) in the headlines. The city's historically low rent (due to its assumed danger by outsiders) has allowed artists like Robocobra Quartet to flourish and hone their craft for years without worrying about broad appeal or commercial interest, instead designing a singular style that is unique and borne of interests across punk rock, jazz, avant-garde and modern pop.

The unique placement of Northern Ireland as a kind of quasi-European post-brexit loophole means that Irish and British pop culture both influence the band's work, with various band members growing up with Irish, British and European backgrounds:

"There’s a great 70s Irish pop song written by Gilbert O Sullivan called “Alone Again (Naturally)” that hints at sorrow with a uniquely Irish sense of dark humour. It made me think about how we deal as individuals with the epidemic of suicide in Northern Ireland, with so many us having had people close to us take their lives. The track Plant (The Succulent Blues) reflects on death but tries to linger & rest on the beauty of life and its capacity for happiness."

The centrepiece of the album is the sprawling 9 minute epic Chromo Sud, a song about housing: "The trials of renting, the aspiration of ownership and the spectre of a full-flung housing crisis in Ireland. We originally wrote the instrumental as part of an improvised performance at the Belfast Film Festival live scoring the 1968 experimental film called Chromo Sud. The name stuck and it became a Robocobra song proper. This is the one where we let the jazz hang out"

Living Isn't Easy releases 17 June 2022 on First Taste Records on LP/CD/DL

Wellness

Releases on limited 7" vinyl 25 Feb 2022 via First Taste Records.

“Heaven is about the cult-like mania of capitalism. I grew up listening to Dead Kennedys and always liked how they would write songs from the perspective of a character they didn’t necessarily agree with. There’s something fascinating about the stories that emerge and I wanted to get inside that extremely chaotic and self absorbed headspace. I loved the idea of singing as someone so narcissistic they find their newborn child beautiful just because they look alike.”

Robocobra Quartet has a rule: “No Guitars Allowed”. Their unique sound, concocted and self-produced in Belfast, Northern Ireland sees that ‘middle’ space filled by other instruments such as saxophones, samplers, keyboards and sound effects swirling around the melodic basslines and powerful drum rhythms which prop up the core of each of their songs. On top of this music sits a single vocal from behind the drum kit amid a fury of rhythm, sometimes marrying perfectly with the pulse of the drums and occasionally at complete odds with it.

For those who have yet to hear them, these new singles are just the beginning of the complex world of Robocobra Quartet - a band serious about their music but humorous in their approach, including members with no musical training alongside members with music conservatoire pedigree. The result is a collective of musicians inspired by Stravinsky and  Black Flag in equal measures. On stage, the band are protons and electrons circling Ryan; meticulous arrangements and on-the-spot improvisations hang on every word. These words and rhythms are what propel the music of Robocobra Quartet forward and concoct a sound that is groove-driven but cerebral too.

Heaven

Robocobra Quartet - Music For All Occasions 12" LP
Released 18th November 2016

Order 12" LP/Digital Download: http://bit.ly/2d8nlex

Chris Brazier - Assistant Engineering
Chris Ryan - Vocals, Drums, Production, Engineering
Dan Coutant - Mastering
Gavin Millar - Photography
Nathan Rodgers - Bass, Effects
Patrick Gardiner - Backing Vocals
Paul O'Reilly - Bass Clarinet, Clarinet, Tenor Sax
Ryan Burrowes - Oscillator, Effects
Sean Joseph - Backing Vocals
Simon Templeton - Piano
Thibault Barillion - Tenor Sax, Alto Sax, Flute
Tim Farrell - Art, Layout
Tom Tabori - Soprano Sax

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Music For All Occasions

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Mining influence from jazz, hardcore and contemporary classical music, Robocobra Quartet sound like little else.

Originally formed at the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the group operate as an expanding, contracting and ever-changing collective. A no-holds-barred approach centred on a howling drummer-vocalist and menacing saxophones takes them to festivals such as SXSW (USA), Brilliant Corners Festival of Jazz (UK) and Into The Great Wide Open (Netherlands).  

"Fugazi meets Mingus." - Drowned in Sound
"Barely of this world." - DIY Magazine
“Carefully crafted.” - The Quietus

An album of extremes, 'Robocobra Quartet Plays Hard To Get' is the follow-up to the NI Music Prize-nominated 'Music for All Occasions' (2016). A musical tug-of-war, this irascible collection of songs frequently turns on a dime - insisting on your full attention.

Project-managed from the drum throne of vocalist, drummer and producer Chris Ryan, disparate nods to modern classical music, hardcore and free jazz battle together and often stack upon one another. This heaped approach is clearest on 'I Shouldn't Have Watched The Film What Lies Beneath (When I Was Twelve)', where contrapuntal choral vocal writing is met with a bass riff that could be lifted off a Gorilla Biscuits track. The extremes don't stop there - humorous titles are met with downbeat barely-spoken lyrics that often ruminate and sometimes exasperate. "It's been a while since liquid on airlines." announces the opener 'Short Stretch of Day', a barely 2-minute nod to 70s Pop orchestration, while 'You'll Wade' negotiates a failed suicide attempt: "We'll find a kinder use for that unused noose / for that knotted lasso". 

"Plays Hard To Get" pulls you like a rag doll through its nine tracks of oblique hints and ideas. From the violent screeches of 'Bar 37 Will Shock You!' to the serene closing to 'Try Hard', you'll certainly be left to your own rumination on what just happened after its 35 minutes are complete.

Releases 25 May on vinyl/digital (Abbreviated Records)

Short Stretch Of Day

From 'Plays Hard To Get', released 25 May on 12" vinyl/digital.

Lyrics:

You'd wait 'til you drop and you'll wade 'til you drown. We'll find a use in having you around. 
We'll find a kinder use for that unused noose, for that knotted lasso. 
We'll find a use for you. 

A fruitful use. 
A bounteous you. 
A splendid new view. 

But what if it doesn't come through? Everything is old news. 
Growing pains continue after you grew. 
What if you don't shine through? Everything is old news. 
Growing pains continue after you grew. 
What if this fails too? Everything is old news.

04/05 Luxembourg, LU (Rotondes) 
05/05 Winterthur, CH (Gaswerk)
 01/06 Durham, UK (DJazz Festival) 
02/06 Lancaster, UK (The Storey) 
03/06 Manchester, UK (Peer Hat) 
04/06 York, UK (The Basement) 
05/06 Hull, UK (The Polar Bear) 
06/06 Oxford, UK (The Library) 
07/06 London, UK (King's Place) 
08/06 Cardiff, UK (The Moon) 
09/06 Brighton, UK (Bau Wow)

"Fugazi meets Mingus." - Drowned in Sound
"Barely of this world." - DIY Magazine
“Carefully crafted.” - The Quietus

You'll Wade

From 'Plays Hard To Get', released 25 May on 12" vinyl/digital.

Lyrics:

Chance of clouds. 
I'll make my bed with the silver linen 'til it's my turn to lie in it: blue sky sinking. 

Oh, intent and deeds - two distant ideas so tough to coalesce. 
An undeveloped concept: littering the road so the street-sweeper's job is kept. 

It feels as though the skin is burning off my bones. I suppose I'm on fire? 
Moseying toward that hint of a clue that occupies your mind for two seconds and then disappears (that ghost of an idea). 

And if that fiery ball of light decides against reflecting upon us, we'll be out of mind and out of sight. Plunged into a darkness. 

I’ll make my bed with the silver linen 'til it's my turn to lie in it: blue sky sinking.

 01/06 Durham, UK (DJazz Festival) 
02/06 Lancaster, UK (The Storey) 
03/06 Manchester, UK (Peer Hat) 
04/06 York, UK (The Basement) 
05/06 Hull, UK (The Polar Bear) 
06/06 Oxford, UK (The Library) 
07/06 London, UK (King's Place) 
08/06 Cardiff, UK (The Moon) 
09/06 Brighton, UK (Bau Wow)

"Fugazi meets Mingus." - Drowned in Sound
"Barely of this world." - DIY Magazine
“Carefully crafted.” - The Quietus

Blue Sky Sinking

From 'Plays Hard To Get', released 25 May on 12" vinyl/digital.

Lyrics:

I see you steer towards the jetty. 
I've seen you veer towards unsteady. 
Eyes laced with a dazed look, mind laced up. 

Race towards the horizon: a headstrong turn from land to lake. 
What is it that motivates? 

A bridge too near. An oblique strategy on a dull day. 
But now it's real (and I'm fuming). 
Grabbing for a handle, door not budging. 
Water leaking, windows cracking. This is happening. 

(Get used to it.) 

These days, crabs pick our bones clean. It's a quiet life, I can't complain!

04/05 Luxembourg, LU (Rotondes) 
05/05 Winterthur, CH (Gaswerk)
 01/06 Durham, UK (DJazz Festival) 
02/06 Lancaster, UK (The Storey) 
03/06 Manchester, UK (Peer Hat) 
04/06 York, UK (The Basement) 
05/06 Hull, UK (The Polar Bear) 
06/06 Oxford, UK (The Library) 
07/06 London, UK (King's Place) 
08/06 Cardiff, UK (The Moon) 
09/06 Brighton, UK (Bau Wow)


"Fugazi meets Mingus." - Drowned in Sound
"Barely of this world." - DIY Magazine
“Carefully crafted.” - The Quietus

Plays Hard To Get

I Shouldn't Have Watched The Film What Lies Beneath (When I Was Twelve)

Band: robocobraquartet@gmail.com
Booking: ​will@primarytalent.com
Management:​ ​joeyedwardsfoh@gmail.com ​

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