Last year, we premiered “Homecoming”, the debut single from Rooftop Assembly, a grime & folk fusion project from London that was formed by playing rooftop concerts during lockdown. It was during covid lockdown in 2020 that folk musician James Riley & grime MC Kayes Mensah first joined forces, playing live-streamed gigs on a north London rooftop to entertain their locked-down neighbours and raise money for food banks.
The concerts became a national sensation, attracting coverage from the BBC, and funding from the Arts Council, inspiring a large mural and prompting an outpouring of community support. The project culminated with James & Kayes collaborating with a full-string quartet and a drummer in a live show that went viral on social media. This prompted invitations for the ensemble to perform at Glastonbury, The Great Escape, Wilderness and many other UK festivals.
Today, they are releasing their crowdfunded debut EP, “Storeys”, which includes the focus track “The Lanes” – an orchestral grime ballad and nostalgic paean to the band’s roots in Tottenham.
James tells us: “The song is a folk & grime love letter to Tottenham – where our rapper (Kayes) grew up, and where we hosted the rooftop shows that led to the creation of the band. This was the first track that we ever collaborated on: it’s a sunlit, nostalgic paean to the place where it all began.”
As said before, the Rooftop Assembly’s lush, beautifully produced, engaging arrangements and the voice of MC Kayes Mensah are adding weight to a shift in musical perspectives, and they’re also railing against all that is “stuffy, reductive and undemocratic within the genre.” This really is music to be celebrated.
Stream the EP:
You can also catch them at this year’s Towersey Festival.
Follow them: https://www.instagram.com/rooftopassembly/