Sugarcane’s magpie sound updates vintage bossa nova and calypso for the 21st century, combining Brazilian and Caribbean rhythms with classic English songwriting. It’s the brainchild of Robin French, whose impressive CV includes successes in TV, Film, Theatre and Music. As a musician, he was bassist with Mr. Hudson & The Library, appearing on Later… With Jools Holland, opening The Other Stage at Glastonbury Festival and supporting such heavyweights as Amy Winehouse, The Police and Kanye West. Now, an award-winning screenwriter, he’s won the Canal+ award at the Cannes Film festival, co-created and written five series of the hit TV series Cuckoo (BBC/Netflix) and had plays produced by The Royal Court, the RSC and The National.

Born in the English suburbs to a Barbadian mother and British father, it’s not surprising the songwriter’s music is a postcolonial jumble; where acoustic sambas meet French chansons and Bahian drumming melds with Trinidadian steel pan. Sugarcane’s singles ‘One Specific Thing’ and ‘Clear Blue Sky’ featured BAFTA award winning actress Antonia Thomas (Misfits, Lovesick, The Good Doctor) on vocals. Sugarcane released their debut album “Cat’s Eyes” on Frizz Records in August this year, delivering on the beguiling mix of tropical sunshine and deep English melancholy that their widely praised preceding singles promised.

“Sugarcane is as sweet as it sounds; French is a bossa nova mastermind” – The Evening Standard