– GUERRILLA WARFARE –

Whenever I walk past a Starbucks, I’m reminded of my days working for Hampshire County Cricket Club, when our overseas fast-bowler Senanayake Mudiyanselage Sachithra Madhushanka Senanayake was asked for his name at a motorway service station and – after a period of some confusion on both sides – acquiesced to allowing the befuzzled barista to write ‘Bob’ on his cup instead.

PYJÆN (and Ezra Collective)’s significantly less-problematically named trumpeter Dylan Jones (pictured) had a similar issue when another coffee-shop employee had trouble reading his own writing.

His hilarious mis-pronunciation (which sounded more like ‘hygiene’ with a ‘P’ on the front) of ‘Dylan’ gifted the band their name and, in many ways their alter-ego.

Now the London-based five-piece are developing quite the reputation for their rock/electro/afrobeat/hip hop-infused jazz.

Previous single ‘In Search of The Sticky Side’ (live video above) has been doing the rounds in the UK scene for a good few months and now ‘Nah’ kicks things up a notch with a skittish, playful little number.

Ben Crane’s bass brings us in with a line that’s not a million miles away from TJ Koleoso’s on Ezra Collective’s ‘São Paolo’ and soon enough Dani Diodato’s wah-wah guitars and Charlie Hutchinson’s frantic drums have kicked in.

However, as you’d expect, it’s the sax of Ben Vize and the trumpet of the aforementioned Jones that take the centre stage. Their parts play out like a couple of twin Tasmanian Devils, jacked up on a cup of Costa’s finest, whirling around each other in ever more dizzying spirals.

An album, due out later this year, will be – Jones promises – “a statement and reflection on the development of the band” throughout a year in which they’ve been “pushing the boundaries of our music, and constantly composing new ideas.”

Good news, indeed… whatever it’s called.

MORE FROM THIS WEEK’S MIX

RACHAEL DADD: CUT MY ROOTS
ASHLEY HENRY: BETWEEN THE LINES
YAATRI: WAITING ON THE SUN
TAWIAH: DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH

P.S. You can find all of the tracks reviewed above in the 45 Revolutions per Minute playlist below or click to access the 45 RPM Playlist on Spotify itself.

If you like what you hear (or even if you don’t), please engage in dialogue with me @45rpm_Reviews on Twitter. And, if you’d like to receive updates weekly, please subscribe to the email list to get these recommendations sent to your inbox weekly.

– SV –