Though we may be entering the final stretch of the year, new music continues to push boundaries, fighting for that coveted ‘album of the year’ spot on so many reviewers’ lists. Those critics have often been quite favourable to black midi, an experimental rock band from London who have taken over music discourse time and time again with their bizarre, avant-garde releases, each more unsettling and otherworldly than the last. Though the group recently announced an indefinite hiatus, frontman Geordie Greep shows no signs of slowing down— quite the opposite, in fact, as his first solo project would release just two month later. ‘The New Sound,’ as its name would suggest, is a bold creative change for Greep: what has undoubtedly carried over from black midi, however, is the barrage of unlikely sounds, the extreme lyrical themes, and the ability to captivate the listener at every turn.

From the frenetic opening of ‘Blues,’ Greep wastes no time letting you know that he’s not playing around on ‘The New Sound’— though this may be his most accessible release to date, the sheer technicality on display is as overwhelming as ever, thrusting the listener into a disorienting soundscape from the off. More than thirty session musicians play across the album, which was recorded over nine sessions in London and São Paulo, and each gets the chance to show-off their full range of instrumental wizardry. In the beginning, for instance, percussion is handled by black midi’s Morgan Simpson, who’s frantic cymbal hits and syncopated grooves on the toms drive ‘Blues’ forwards with incredible momentum. The guitars are no less jaw-dropping, taking a healthy influence from underground jazz as they navigate a host of odd rhythms at blazing tempos, turning the album up to eleven before you can even catch your breath.

The vocals only add to this sense of controlled chaos as the shrill cries and bizarre ramblings guide the listener into a world of despair and confusion. Though Greep isn’t the strongest singer in a technical sense— he does himself a disservice by inviting unfavourable comparisons to Frank Sinatra on the closing cover of ‘If You Are But a Dream’— his voice has an undeniable character to it that suits the music extremely well, becoming an endearing (if extremely unlikeable) protagonist throughout the record. Whether it be the desperate wailing of ‘Holy, Holy’ or the melodramatic crooning of ‘Bongo Season,’ Greep fits seamlessly into his own project, finding a place among so many layers.

And goodness me, aren’t there a lot of layers to sift through. ‘The New Sound’ only becomes more overpowering and bombastic as it progresses, filling its funky grooves with waves of noise to fill out the soundstage to bursting. Single ‘Holy, Holy,’ for instance, begins as a highly guitar-centric cut, featuring Greep’s infectious lead playing. As the song delves further and further into madness, however, the increasingly panicked drums are joined by boisterous brass hits, fast piano licks, theatrical vocal harmonies, xylophone runs and much, much more, perfectly capturing the main character’s delusions of grandeur in musical form. 

The album only grows increasingly crowded for there, indulging in every chance to subvert expectations via a quick blast of saxophone or analog synth and crescendoing in the complete madness of ‘Motorbike.’ Seth Evans’ vocals on this track are the most melodic and accessible you’ll find on the album, starting the song off on a surprisingly tender note, but don’t be fooled: by the end, this track is a fever dream of sound, piling on as much dissonance and abrasion as the production can possibly handle. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite come together, as Greep certainly takes things too far in this instance, losing sight of actual musicality in favour of heaping on yet more insufferable brass. Evans’ production suffers similarly, buckling under the weight of so many layers, though it must be said that the mix is a small but noticeable issue throughout the whole album, capturing every element in a satisfactory but somewhat unconfident manner.

It’s quite a relief, then, that Greep’s songwriting stands up to the test, benefitting from the onslaught on noise rather than being smothered by it. At its core, ‘The New Sound’ could be described as a jazz rock album (although its melding of other genres would undoubtedly earn it the ‘experimental’ label as well), and as such, features a host of wonderful instrumental passages. ‘Terra,’ with its sweet guitar passages and piano scoring, would fit well as the background music for a whimsical coffee shop if its lyrics weren’t so unhinged, and the title track is similarly hopeful and tuneful— while the record never lets you grow too comfortable, constantly throwing in new modulations and chord changes, much of the record is surprisingly pleasing to the ear, proving that underneath its dense layering, the songs here can stand on their own. Greep even seems to recognise the error he’s made on ‘Motorbike’ as afterwards, the album shifts into a much slower, more mellow sound for the remainder of its runtime, allowing the sweet melodies of ‘As if Waltz’ and ‘The Magician’ to proceed undeterred.

It wouldn’t be a black midi-adjacent release without some unhinged lyricism though, and ‘The New Sound’ certainly hasn’t skipped out there. Throughout the record, Greep embodies one of the most self-absorbed, pompous, arrogant, delusional protagonists ever put into song, fitting the description of a Napoleon Complex to a tee. Whether he’s describing himself as a decorated general on ‘Through a War’ or ordering prostitutes around incessantly on ‘Holy, Holy,’ our narrator is both unreliable and untrustworthy, exploring romance and sex, in particular, through a horrifically twisted and warped lens that defies deconstruction. All these disparate themes do, somehow, come together on the twelve-minute epic ‘The Magician,’ however, which explores the relationship between Greep and this fictional character via waves and waves of meta-commentary and metaphor. Though we don’t feel the need to put you through any of these lyrics by citing them here, the point remains that ‘The New Sound’ thrusts the listener into a disgustingly alien and vivid viewpoint— whether or not you find that enjoyable is up to you.

As we all should’ve expected, Geordie Greep’s first solo record is as bizarre and hard-to-pin-down as any of black midi’s releases were. Describing the album as “a man wailing about prostitutes for an hour over ridiculously complex jazz rock instrumentals” is both extremely accurate, and yet an awful way to recommend the album. Despite that, we’ll do it anyway— ‘The New Sound’ is, in spite of some unrefined elements, a stunningly bold and creative release, and one we’ll surely be returning to for quite some time. Though it may not be for everyone, or even for the vast majority of our readers, we can’t give enough praise to one of the wildest, most exhilarating listens of the year.