For fans of Vampire Weekend and Paul Simon. Being in an indie band is like a pasta bake,” starts Lou Cotteril of Cassia. It’s saucy, a bit cheesy, and there are many layers. Cassia as a pasta bake; either a studio favourite spicy tuna and red pepper, or a delicious sun-dried tomato and halloumi, has three layers. These three layers are the aforementioned Lou, Jake Leff on drums and frontman Rob Ellis. “A pasta bake is a canvas of activity, you can do anything with a pasta bake,” says Jake. Cassia cast a dewy glow over the small market town of Macclesfield, transforming even the dreariest of days into a feel good carnival that’ll have you dancing down the wet pathed streets. Living in Zambia as a young boy, Rob, grew up under a diet of West African music. His grandfather was always flicking through his vast record collection and “conditioning him from an early age.” The flavours of different cultures filled his heart and poured into the music that he and his band make today. Their summer jams are chockablock with big hooks so sweet that they could knock out a dentist, and grooves so strong that they could prompt an early hip replacement. “Without buttering Rob up, he’s on this really cool African guitar thing which not many people are doing,” Jake says before paying compliment to Lou’s pocket. “It’s astounding,” he breathes, “It makes us groove a lot better than we should do. It’s pretty tasty.” Fishing his own way to a compliment, the boys can’t deny that their drummer has an ear for keeping the delicacy of nifty rhythms without compromising their juicy beats. “We like music where we can tell that people are trying to do something a bit new,” Jake says. “It’s admirable.” Citing the likes of Glass Animals and Bombay Bicycle Club as their favourites, the boys explain; “We use very few instruments and there’s just so much you can do with them if you just try it out. There’s so much room to make something just sound different so easily, and that’s the exciting thing.” Breaking away from the typical been-there-done-that riffs, Cassia create music that leaves an earworm wiggling to a calypso through the subconscious. In fact, their music is just as irresistible as the boys are. They’re these untameable Northerners. They’re loud yet charismatic, confident with every right to be, and cheeky in good measure. The three can’t help but tease each other, yet their comebacks (“If Lou weren’t in the band, we’d be famous!”) couldn’t be more brotherly and are finished with a hearty laugh.
