Forming in 2014, 5 piece Rock Fusion band Sir Cadian Rhythm are from Long Island, New York, and have recently released their latest EP, ‘Identity Crisis’.
The band, comprising Jack Weppler (Vocals), Alex Laudani (Guitar), Richie Cluxton (Bass), Micah Cowher (Drums), and Matt Carlin (Keyboards, Horn, Vocals), started making a name for themselves when in New York, when they started playing live. The release of their debut eponymous EP, in February 2015, saw them receive recognition from a vast number of blogs, magazines, and radio stations. From there they went on to win both “Battle Of The Bands” competitions of radio stations WEHM 96.9 and 107.1 The Peak FM. They also that year played The Great South Bay Festival, which also featured artists including Christina Perri, and 311.
Each member of Sir Cadian Rhythm has a vastly different musical background and style, meaning that together the band blends together such styles as prog rock, funk, metal, pop, classical, and jazz – coming together with something quite unique – in fact their style could quite legitimately be called, “Sir Cadian Rhythm”.
The band hit the ground running in 2016, performing for a sold out crowd of 1500 at The Paramount, Huntingdon, New York. Their music was also heard in the feature film, ‘Back In The Day’, which stars Alex Baldwin, Danny Glover, and Mike Tyson. Sir Cadian Rhythm started their summer tour with a performance on the main stage at the Montauk Music Festival back in May.
The five song EP, ‘Identity Crisis’, opens with ‘Gwen Barkley In The 20th Century’, a song which, accompanied by a video featuring a “Great Gatsby” style couple, and set in the Roaring Twenties or thereabouts, deals with the life and loves of the titular character, Gwen Barkley – “Her heyday is over” – you know it’s not going to end well, and judging by the video, it doesn’t.
Second song, ‘All Is Fair (In Love And War)’, features close harmonies and a really nice jangly guitar and throbbing bass. The vocals are fantastic and the rhythms are syncopated and lush. We’re reminded of various artists but we can’t put our fingers just on who – perhaps that is part of their whole appeal – the influence of so many different genres while creating their very own.
‘Book Of Secrets’ is an up tempo track that is both lyrically challenging and musically exquisite. The song feels like it’s composed of various styles all at once, which on the face of it shouldn’t work but it really does.
‘Tribulations’, the fourth song on the EP, reminds us of latter-day David Bowie, with a different style once again to the rest. Indeed, the EP is aptly named, with each song having an “identity crisis”, with the music skipping around styles within and with each song.
Fifth and final track, ‘Walk On Wire’, opens gently with an a capella vocal, once again with close harmonies, before adding instruments, one by one. Beautiful and sweet, it finishes in the same way it began.
‘Identity Crisis’ was recorded at Raw Recording Studios, Patterson, New York, and engineered and mixed by JC Santalis, who also assisted Sir Cadian Rhythms with the production. Mastering was done by Mike Kalajian of Rogue Planet Mastering.
You can find Sir Cadian Rhythms online on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and their Official Website.
Check out the video for ‘Gwen Barkley In The 20th Century’:
