Cykada: the story so far

Cykada are yet to release a debut album, or any studio recordings for that matter, but they're already an outfit highly regarded within London's burgeoning, jazz-rooted contemporary music scene. They comprise six of the capital's most exciting underground jazz, rock and electronic music talents, including saxophonist James Mollison, who plays with the mighty Ezra Collective and whose artistry speaks through Joe Armon-Jones' outstanding album cut, Mollison Dub. The man in the drum stool, Tim Doyle aka. Chiminyo, is a truly inventive drummer, who aside from playing percussion with recently-signed-to-Brownswood band Maisha, uses his acoustic drums to trigger virtual instruments and audio files in his solo project and with this band. Trumpeter Axel Kaner-Lidstrom of Where Pathways Meet completes their two man horn section, while bassist Jamie Benzies anchors the rhythm section, and lead guitarist Javi Perez brings wah-infused psychedelic licks into the picture. Tilé Gigichi-Lipere ties everything together, taking a feed of the live sound and manipulating it with his software and hardware equipment.

The band started playing together a few years ago and settled on their current line-up approximately eighteen months ago. Their progression has been gradual; the group making a conscious decision to let their sound come to them, jamming regularly and never pursuing one particular idea or direction. They played their Beats of L.A. show to a packed out Jazz Café in early 2018 and bring the same show to the Midlands and North of England in late November and early December, also playing some of their eagerly awaited original material.

If you've yet to check out the band, but enjoy the music of Ezra Collective, Kamasi Washington or Flying Lotus, check out their incredible track recorded at jazz:refreshed and keep your eyes peeled and your ears primed for new material soon to come!

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