The New Sound
UK rock polymaths black midi accomplished so much in such a short time—and at such a young age—that the group’s sudden announcement of their indefinite hiatus in 2024 couldn’t help but raise questions. Geordie Greep’s solo debut *The New Sound* doesn’t so much provide answers as it does multiple pathways forward. black midi acolytes will recognize a few stylistic touches here and there that have carried over to Greep’s boundless musical map: jazz fusion breakdowns; multi-suite songwriting indebted to prog’s knotty weirdness; and Greep’s increasing penchant for all-caps storytelling, which previously reared its head on black midi’s swan-song-for-now *Hellfire* in 2022. Otherwise, *The New Sound* lives up to its title by reintroducing Greep as a musically omnivorous showman, as he leaps into the spotlight with outsized bravado and a wild-eyed sense of sonic fearlessness. Featuring an expansive cast of supporting players and session musicians—including black midi drummer Morgan Simpson—*The New Sound* is far-flung in locale and genre: Cobbled together over the course of a year from studio time in London and São Paulo, its 11 tracks are positively boundless in stylistic flourish. The easy bossa nova swing of “Terra” and the jazz-hands ascent of first single “Holy, Holy” recall Steely Dan bandleader Donald Fagen’s classic 1982 solo LP *The Nightfly*, while the two-wheeled angst of “Motorbike” isn’t far off from the discordant post-punk abstractions of the London-based Speedy Wunderground scene that black midi was often associated with. If that all sounds hard to pin down, just wait until you dig into the lyric sheet for this one, as Greep’s logorrheic maelstrom tackles the dark, impotent lasciviousness of male sexuality with explicit gusto. It’s provocative without being needlessly shocking, an impressive tightrope walk that marks *The New Sound*’s loopy idiosyncrasies as a whole.
The black midi frontman’s solo debut populates his over-the-top genre workouts with a carefully drawn parade of unsubtle, unsympathetic characters. It’s exhilarating—and occasionally exhausting.
Ex-Black Midi frontman Geordie Greep's debut solo record ‘The New Sound’ is very much in its own head – read the NME album review
Geordie Greep, The New Sound album review: The ex-Black Midi frontman remarkably delivers on his brief of a guitar album like no other
Geordie Greep’s solo debut, ‘The New Sound,’ draws its power from its ability to keep multiple balls in the air.
The New Sound by Geordie Greep album review by Ben Lock for Northern Transmissions. The Black Midi artist's solo LP drops on October 4th
Geordie Greep - The New Sound review: When the smoke clears, what is left? Goodbye, goodbye