“No more Black Midi. It’s iver. Over.” The now infamous words spoken by Black Midi frontman Geordie Greep on the 10th of August, 2024 spelled the end of the critically acclaimed British avant-prog band.
Greep caught the band’s other two members off guard. In a tweet by bassist Cameron Picton after the news broke, he wrote, “We’d agreed not to say anything about ‘breaking up’ so I was as blindsided as everyone else last night but maybe in a different way.”
With this news shocking the public, Greep had one more announcement for the world. The band’s finale meant he could now draw audience attention to his own work. Only 10 days after his shocking announcement did he share that the release of his debut solo album, The New Sound, was coming soon. This announcement came with a brand new single: “Holy, Holy”, an irresistibly catchy, progressive salsa bop that tells the story of a creepy and misogynistic club goer who graphically expresses his sexual desires. This satirical depiction of this desire intrigued nearly everyone who heard it.
I, loving the deep grooves and creative delivery from Greep, was astronomically excited for the release of this project. This song met with heavy praise and left the music world on its very toes.
On October 4, 2024, after a fairly short wait, Geordie Greep’s debut solo album was released, delivering one of the most unique and experimental releases of the past decade. Now no longer held back by his two previous band members, Greep was free to express himself to the fullest. Drawing heavily from Latin music, The New Sound is the perfect blend of progressive and experimental rock, with a perfect touch of rhythms and more traditional pop structures. The album’s opener, “Blues”, hit streaming a few days prior to release as the album’s second single. It really draws listeners in with its hard-to-forget groovy intro.
Black Midi’s previous drummer, Morgan Simpson, provides the fantastic drumming on this track.
Greep delivers his off-putting lyrics with incredible panache. He mocks hyper-masculine culture that has become all too mainstream in today’s culture. The song builds as it goes on, with Greeps’ character becoming angrier and angrier and the song seems to explode with energy near the end. It feels like one of the more Black Midi-esque – and prog-rock-esque – tracks on this album.
“Terra”, the next track, makes a complete 180 from the previous song. It sounds much mellower – almost resembling a lost Steely Dan song from the 1970s. The jazzy instrumentals and the stunning vocal performance mark this as a fan favorite on the album. Greep sings with so much passion and soul, and the fantastic rhythm section only helps reinforce his excellent voice.
“Holy, Holy”, the next song, amazed me. After an instrumental jazz tune, we then get “Walk Up”. One of the heavier and more aggressive tracks on the album, I really like it. “Through A War” marks another one of my personal highlights of this album. It has a very similar vibe to “Terra”, with the Latin rhythms going through the roof. The instrumental section also shares some similarities with the aforementioned “Terra”, with some extremely groovy horns.
Soon after is “Motorbike”, on the first few listens I wasn’t a huge fan of this song and thought that it sounded too out of place with guest vocalist, Seth Evans. However, the more I hear it the less it stands out. I think Evans makes for a great vocalist and the way Greep weaves the tale of a man who leaves his family leaves us with a very well written song. One of the most experimental songs on the album, it erupts with energy in the last few verses.
After “As If Waltz”, one of the more laid back songs on the album, we get to “The Magician”. In my opinion, this is the most triumphant moment on the entire album, and even in his entire career. A 12-minute long epic that marks the penultimate moment of the characters entire storyline. It shows him at absolute rock bottom, having lost everything. On it, Greep sings about more than just a character and leaves a little bit of himself in the words. It results in a super dramatic song with some of his best vocals and some of the best delivery on the album. It only becomes more powerful towards the end and sticks out as one of – if not the – best moment on the entire album.
Finally, we close with If You Are But A Dream. It’s a nice way to close the album, but on its own doesn’t really stand out. I do quite like the big band in the background.
Overall, this might be the defining moment of Georgie Greep’s career. In his new-found solo career, he seems to have really come into his own with the most unique and bold album of the year. The album carries a fitting name, The New Sound, with the whole project being an entirely new and unique type of music. While the lyrics can sometimes be quite odd, I think the satirical delivery can be rather creative and more than a little funny at times. This album, one of my favorites released this year, has already established itself for me as an all time favorite. If I had to list my favorite and least favorite songs, I would say “Terra”, “Holy Holy”, and “The Magician” stand out above all the rest with “Bongo Season” being a little underwhelming, compared to the rest of the tracklist. I would highly recommend this album to anyone who looks for new and interesting music and who finds themselves intrigued by the term “prog-salsa”. The New Sound is a rare case of an album being boldly experimental yet extremely danceable and is one that I think everyone should hear
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