Living isn't easy

"If they didn't exist, Irish jazz would have to invent them. Every scene needs its outer limits defined and explored, and for the past decade, drummer Chris Ryan's ever-shifting Belfast collective have been gamely manning the frontier where jazz and improv meet post-punk, art rock and revolutionary politics ... 'Living Isn't Easy' (...) weaves Ryan's spoken-word narrations through layers of groove and horns and spacey synths. Wellness, the album's second track, was released as a single in April and, while it didn't exactly trouble the upper reaches of the pop charts, it's verbatim reading of facile health tips from a magazine article becomes an arch satire on the modern cult of self-actualisation. Beneath the situationist critique, there's grooves and horns and solos, particularly on the album's centrepiece, "Chromo Sud", that may have Robocobra accused of being, you know, a jazz band, but 'Living Isn't Easy' probably stands up best as a critique of late capitalism".

Læs anmeldelse

"Belfast's jazz agitators Robocobra Quartet hit career-best on the explosive Living Isn't Easy: Robocobra Quartet are angry (and also a bit sad). As a channel for drummer and bandleader Chris W Ryan's personal and political rage, their brand of jazz ranges from snarky funk to post-punk polemic, with Ryan's spoken word at its centre. With a spate of fantastic singles preceding it, one hopes that Living Isn't Easy - the band's third album - will be the one to break them. It is, after all, their most beguiling yet: an exercise in tension punctuated by ecstatic highs and the occasional bit of deft humour".

Læs anmeldelse

"Jazz, punk and political despair infuse Belfast outfit's sharp treatise on modernity ... A whip-smart confluence of observation, poise and flow, 'Living Isn't Easy' is a storied triumph".