The Royal Arctic Institute is an instrumental, post-punk, cinematic jazz quintet from New York. The band is composed of drummer Lyle Hysen (Das Damen, Arthur Lee), guitarists John Leon (Roky Erickson, Summer Wardrobe, Abra Moore) and Lynn Wright (And The Wiremen, Bee And Flower, Shilpa Ray), bassist David Motamed (Das Damen, Two Dollar Guitar, Arthur Lee, Townes Van Zandt, Cell), and keyboardist Carl Baggaley (Headbrain, Gramercy Arms). The band name is a reference to the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. Read more on Last.fm