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), and keyboardist Carl Baggaley (Headbrain, Gramercy Arms). The band name is a reference to the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. All five members of the Royal Arctic Institute have spent decades playing in various ensembles, working as studio musicians, backing musicians, and touring musicians; Dave and Lyle have played together since they were both 13 years old. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.