Lift Off
Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes
Where "Nightrider" lingers, "Lift Off" detonates. From its opening bars there's a propulsive, almost kinetic energy — Dayes's drumming shifts into a higher gear, trading the midnight sprawl for something that wants to launch. The rhythmic interplay here draws heavily from Afrobeat and jazz-fusion simultaneously, with polyrhythmic patterns stacked so naturally they feel inevitable rather than constructed. Misch's guitar takes on a brighter, more percussive attack, chording in a way that adds rhythmic density without cluttering the space. There's a communal feeling to the track — it suggests a band genuinely feeding off each other in real time, the kind of locked-in ensemble playing that can't be programmed. Emotionally it's pure forward momentum, that specific euphoria of acceleration, of something beginning rather than settling. If "Nightrider" is the drive home, this is the moment you realize you're not tired anymore. It carries the DNA of 70s fusion — Weather Report, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters era — but filtered through a generation that grew up on UK grime and drum machines, making it feel simultaneously classic and completely of the present moment. Best experienced loud, ideally while doing something physical.
fast
2020s
bright, kinetic, dense
London UK jazz, Afrobeat and 70s fusion influences
Jazz, Afrobeat. jazz-fusion / Afrobeat. euphoric, energetic. Launches immediately into kinetic propulsion and sustains pure forward momentum, the feeling of something beginning rather than settling.. energy 8. fast. danceability 7. valence 9. vocals: instrumental, no vocals. production: percussive bright guitar, polyrhythmic stacked drums, live ensemble interplay, rhythmically dense. texture: bright, kinetic, dense. acousticness 4. era: 2020s. London UK jazz, Afrobeat and 70s fusion influences. Best experienced loud while doing something physical — a workout, a run, anything that benefits from the feeling of acceleration.