Robocobra Quartet

Robocobra Quartet is a Belfast-based band whose live shows are built around drummer and vocalist Chris W Ryan. This London concert takes place at the ICA as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival.

Robocobra Quartet is a band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, whose line-up is fluid: musicians join and leave the touring quartet, and some members have no musical training while others have conservatoire backgrounds. The group is inspired by Stravinsky and the Dead Kennedys in equal measure, and its sound combines power with a more cerebral quality, with the band invoking Fugazi, Black Midi and Tortoise.

On stage, the other players orbit drummer and vocalist Chris W Ryan, whose spoken, sung and shouted words set the rhythms of the music. Meticulous arrangements sit alongside improvised passages, and the performances move between joyful, playful moments and bursts of intense fury. The band has been invited to Montreux Jazz Festival, Glastonbury and Inversia Festival, and has received attention from The Quietus, MOJO, BBC 6Music and KEXP.

The group is presented here within the EFG London Jazz Festival, and the audience at its live shows has included jazz listeners as well as rock fans. The ICA London is a venue hosting concerts and shows in the capital.