Description:

The main theme of the record is desperation; you dont hear an unreliable narrator but someone who is kidding themselves that they have everything under control, but they dont. Geordie Greep

Geordie Greep (guitarist and vocalist in black midi) today announces his debut solo album The New Sound and shares its first single Holy, Holy.

Following three astonishing albums with black midi, most recently 2023s Hellfire, and almost non-stop worldwide tours for near-on five years, Geordie Greep has somehow found time to record his first solo album The New Sound, an album that has allowed him scope to explore creative ideas like never before. It boasts a brand of high quality, all-embracing alternative pop fun not heard in a very long time. Geordie Greep; With recording The New Sound, it was the first time I have had no one to answer to. And with every impulse I had, I was able to completely follow it through to its conclusion. Being in a band (black midi), we often have this we can do everything feeling, but you are also kind of limited in that approach, and sometimes it's good to do something else, to let go of things.

Over thirty session musicians were involved in the making of the album, on two continents, in So Paulo and London. Geordie Greep; Some of the tracks we had recorded already, elsewhere, but it just wasnt right, so we re-recorded them with new people. Half of the tracks were done in Brazil, with local musicians pulled together at the last minute. Theyd never heard anything Id done before, they were just interested in the demos Id made. The tracking was all done in one, maybe two days. Then we did the overdubs later, in London.

Geordie Greep has had plenty of practice with black midi over the years in performing musical and lyrical Cruyff turns, full of stop-starts, blasts and bangs and whispered soliloquies. Here the method is employed to ask: what part of the narrative should we listeners believe, or take as our emotional crutch? The mercurial, insouciant tone set in Terra, or the gruesome imagery it is juxtaposed with? After all, Greep tells us, this is the story of the museum of human suffering. Consider, too, the strange emotional undulations created in Through a War, where the music makes a very polished stab at aping a soul revue; or a salsa class. Its there to give colour to a set of imaginings which include cannibalism, being boiled alive, and a woman giving birth to a goat. Youre never quite sure when, or whether, you are supposed to be shocked; or laugh. Even if, as with the latter, Geordie Greep gives us the punchline; And thats how I spent my adolescence.

Street life is all around: the listener is thrown into a world of cafes, bars and clubs, visit theatres, cabarets and strange museums, or rented rooms. Here we see our heroes carry out a series of naughty assignations, military cosplay or socio-economic triumphs. Greep; I was often thinking of walking through a city, and thinking about a million dollars, showing that kind of feeling, you know? Taking on The New Sound in its entirety can feel like you are trying to cross Piccadilly Circus after a skinful. Single Holy Holy is possibly the best example: has urbane romantic fantasy ever sounded this way? Probably not since Nol Coward. This story of an imaginary liaison in a nightclub is soundtracked by noughties indie pop chords and bravura Latin big band arrangements - including a three-piano attack (Steinway, Bechstein, electric). Motorbike sees a change in vocal duties: as bassist and album producer Seth Shank Evans starts up a doleful soliloquy about not getting what he wants.

Its certainly an album that fully engages the listener, throughout the eleven tracks. Greep; I was worried about the length in terms of not overblowing it. But Im also really bloody bored of listening to music and, for better or worse, knowing in advance what it means or what its trying to do. All my favourite music is about the listener coming to terms with what is going on. My favourite singers, like Peter Hammill or Nat King Cole, are literally one of a kind. I love that. Especially with lyrics, where youre not sure what theyre going on about, but you know its not just abstract thoughts.

What next? Could we see The New Sound as a live concept or is the album going to stay forever in our collective imagination? Greep; My plan is to do a Keith Jarrett thing, have a different group of session musicians in a different place and lean into the fact that were not going to get it the same. How can anything ever be the same with Greep at the helm?

Tracklisting

1. Blues
2. Terra
3. Holy, Holy
4. The New Sound
5. Walk Up
6. Through A War
7. Bongo Season
8. Motorbike
9. As If Waltz
10. The Magician
11. If You Are But A Dream