London jazz outfit Portico Quartet have been a launch pad for side projects since their 2008 Mercury prize-nominated debut. Hang drum player Nick Mulvey departed in 2011 to become a successful singer-songwriter, while saxophonist Jack Wyllie is part of two projects: experimental electronica trio Szun Waves and the west African-influenced Paradise Cinema.
The latter’s 2020 debut, with Australian drummer Laurence Pike and Senegalese sabar and tama drummers Khadim Mbaye and Tons Sambe, artfully merged keening horns and synth pads with the fierce polyrhythms of mbalax music. The quartet’s follow-up, Returning, Dream, cements their atmospheric brand of percussive jazz.
