Syd Arthur hail from pretty auspicious origins. Albion rock’s new scions are based in Canterbury and their sound imbibes that city’s rich musical vintage of the late 60’s/early 70’s. Not only do Syd Arthur hark back to the fecund blending of psychedelia, progressive rock, jazz and folk peddled by bands like Soft Machine and Caravan, they have some pretty esteemed relatives too. Raven Bush- the group’s very own John Paul Jones, adding strings and exotic textures- is nephew to none other than Kate Bush. As with Raven’s aunt, the band operates within a creatively autonomous, vertically integrated framework. They created a recording space, Wicker Studios, in 2009 where they engineer and produce themselves and their own label, Dawn Chorus Recordings. The lexicon for all this is a pretty good indication of where Syd Arthur are at, tapping into Britain’s visionary recent and distant past. The appellation Syd Arthur brings with it intimations of Arthurian legend while Syd recalls Barrett, Pink Floyd’s original interstellar pilot. Read the rest of this page »
