ROBOCOBRA QUARTET SHARE NEW SINGLE “NOTHING”
FROM THEIR 100-TRACK ALBUM HUNDRED PIECES
ALBUM OUT 13TH NOVEMBER
Robocobra Quartet by Niamh Barry
Selected press for Robocobra Quartet:
“Fugazi meets Mingus” – Drowned in Sound
“a storied triumph” – MOJO
“perfectly strange” – The London Standard
“I like, I like, I like, I think they’re really exciting” – Jamz Supernova
“free floating musical explorers” – Hannah Peel
“I genuinely don’t think there is another band like ’em” – Tom Robinson
“I love this band” – Gemma Bradley
“Incantatory” – The Guardian
“A signature sound of jazz-motivated, punk-informed spoken word” – Loud & Quiet
“A cunning marriage of jazz, spoken word and punk” – The Quietus
“Exploratory pioneers” – BBC Radio 3 Late Junction
Irish experimental collective Robocobra Quartet have shared “Nothing”, a new single plucked from their forthcoming album Hundred Pieces, made up of 100 songs. It follows the release of “Haha”.
With a revolving cast of collaborators who tag in and out as required, Robocobra Quartet have been growing a cult following since the release of their debut album Music For All Occasions in 2016. Formed by drummer and vocalist Chris W Ryan, who is fast becoming a producer in demand, having recently worked on records by the likes of Chalk, Just Mustard, and TTSSFU, the band includes members with no musical training alongside members with music conservatoire pedigree. Their touring has brought them from Montreux Jazz Festival to living rooms, pub basements, a number of boats and as far as the Arctic Circle, while receiving acclaim from The Quietus, MOJO, The Guardian, The London Standard, Loud & Quiet, The Line Of Best Fit, Prog, and BBC Radio 6.
“Nothing” sits close to the sound of “Haha”, pairing Ryan’s sprechgesang vocals with strings and bass at an unhurried, andante pace. Lyrically, Ryan explores the dissatisfaction that comes with the very human desire to seek perfection. Written early in the process, “Nothing” suggests that for a very human album of an unthinkable number of songs, losing sight of perfection might be the point.
Listen to “Nothing” HERE
“Nothing is an episodic song that is designed to reflect the same sentiments in different contexts; visually it feels to me like the same light refracted through different prisms,” says Ryan. “The lyrics explore how nothing in life is certain and the search for ‘perfection’ is endless and maybe that’s OK. This track was written early in the process of Hundred Pieces and was frankensteined together as time went on, with different band members recording the bass guitar parts in different sections of the song. I really like that this makes the song feel even more like it changes scene and atmosphere as it goes on.”
They say good ideas often start with a joke: the idea of a 100-track album was initially an off-hand remark, but very soon the band started writing specifically for “the hundred”, as they affectionately called it. Inspired by the durational art of Marina Abramović, and specifically her memoir Walk Through Walls, Robocobra Quartet set about creating a one hundred track album as a composition in itself.
During the writing process, saxophonist Thibault Barillon began growing petri dishes of fungus at home with a view to creating the artwork for the album. This soon became an improvised process in tandem with the music-making, furthering the band’s obsession with the idea of chance. Much like the organisms growing in the petri dishes, some of the songs grew into very complex studio productions laboured over for months, such as “Haha” and “Nothing”, whereas other songs, such as “Gilded” and “Ashes Again”, were simply moments captured during the writing process, their lives beginning and ending within just a few minutes.
Created with absolutely zero use of AI, Hundred Pieces is also an ode to the idea that creating work is a form of joy, and that humans can take on gigantic tasks too and enjoy the process while they’re at it.
Across the tracklisting, the band morphs through genres, travelling from abrasive saxophone blasts to pensive post-hardcore tinged miniatures, then slowly disintegrating into dub mixes and austere ambience. Clocking in at 5 hours, Hundred Pieces flies in the face of the attention economy. For over a decade Robocobra Quartet have been breaking rules and asking questions: Will you actively listen through it all from start to finish? Will you skip to track titles that pique your interest? Will you jump to the final, hundredth song to see how it ends? Will you pause after a while and come back to it like a book you love? All answers welcome.
Robocobra Quartet live:
London – 19/11 – ICA (London Jazz Festival)
Dingle, IE – 28-29/11 – Other Voices
At the time of writing, Robocobra Quartet includes:
Chris W Ryan (Drums, Vocals)
Finn McCarthy (Bass)
Ryan Burrowes (Samplers, Keys)
Peter Howard (Sax, Keys)
Tom Tabori (Sax, Samplers)
Thibault Barillon (Sax, Artwork)
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