The phrases “avant-garde improvisational noise rock” and “hot new buzz band” don’t often show up next to each other in the same sentence. But they’re difficult to avoid when discussing London’s Black Midi, an adventurous group that’s somehow broken through over the last couple years to become one of the most hyped acts in the U.K. despite (or perhaps because of) a sound tailor-made to challenge and bewilder listeners in its prog-punk weirdness.
The indescribable Londoners just hasn’t been the same. Seems like Black Midi dropped a single utterly unlike anything found on their baffling debut from earlier this year, blending banjo and post-rock crescendos with totally spoken word on a song with the more Carrey-wary title “7-eleven.” Following “Talking Heads” as a very reasonable alt take from the album Schlagenheim, “7” is a bizarre interpretation of Americana.
Black Midi’s excellent debut, Schlagenheim — released last year on Rough Trade Records, the iconic label that signed the Smiths and the Strokes — was nominated for the Mercury Prize, and they followed it with a mostly sold out 21-date American tour. “We intended our first show to be our last, so the whole band has been a surprise,” says Black Midi singer-guitarist Geordie Greep. “You’ve got to keep it relative.
Greep and drummer Morgan Simpson bonded over their shared love of jazz fusion, especially John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra; bassist-keyboard player Cameron Picton is a fan of West African highlife and Congolese soukous; guitarist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin was partial to classic rock and Japanese noise bands like the Boredoms. Nearly all those elements would soon show up in the band’s sound.
UK math rock breakouts Black Midi have shared a bonus track from this year’s Schlagenheim, which the band has performed live in the past under the name “Cameron’s Song.” It’s a bit more spacious than the other songs on the record, almost leaning in post-rock territory.
As for where the band’s music is heading, Greep says whatever they put out next will be “unrecognizable” from what they’ve done so far, somewhat elusively promising something “more complicated but more simple, more clever, more subtle.”
“As individuals we challenge ourselves to try new things,” adds Simpson. “We’re always trying to find new ways to feel uncomfortable.”
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