An exciting EFG London Jazz Festival double-bill from two bands; Robocobra Quartet, with their improvisation-soaked take on post-punk, and Newcastle trio Archipelago, presenting their genre-fusing sound.

Comprising two saxophonists (Tom Taboroi and Peter Howard), a bass guitarist (Nathan Rodgers) and a drummer-vocalist (Chris Ryan), Robocobra Quartet’s unmatched live performances channel-hop from moments of joy and playfulness to periods of intense fury, earning them invitations to festivals across the world.

Their self-produced Northern Ireland Music Prize-nominated album Plays Hard To Get pulls the audience like a rag doll through its nine tracks of improvisation-soaked post-punk. Featuring oblique production nods to influences as disparate as modern classical music and 60s pop, the album track Short Stretch of Day was used in the HBO documentary Game of Thrones: The Last Watch.

The award-winning UK trio Archipelago return to the Festival following the launch of their new album Echoes to the Sky released via New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings.

Fronted by multi-instrumentalist Faye MacCalman (composer/reeds/voice/synth) and completed by John Pope (Bass/FX) and Christian Alderson (Drums/Percussion), Archipelago is formed out of the North East of England’s creative underground music scene.

Echoes to the Sky presents an expanded take on Archipelago’s genre-fusing sound, augmenting their core sax-drums-bass palette with voice, electronics and synth. It showcases the Newcastle group’s restless explorations; crafting new music originating from MacCalman’s therapeutic habit of improvising songs at a piano.