In The Picture
LED BY MERCURIAL GUITARIST GEORDIE GREEP, BLACK MIDI HAVE CREATED THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY ALBUM OF 2021
Photographer Sharon Latham captured this powerful image when Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds played at Manchester Arena on May 4th, 2018. It was a significant moment for Noel – playing at this venue, in his hometown, for the first time since 23 people lost their lives there in the terrorist attack of the previous year. More of Sharon’s photos can be seen in an online exhibit: www.anewworldblazing.com In addition, Noel’s new Gibson J-150 signature acoustic is available soon.
Math rock, experimental rock, post-punk: No one can actually decide what genre black midi are. You won’t be helped by looking at their influences either, because their influences are... everything. Their 2019 debut Schlagenheim made them hot property and earned a Mercury Prize nomination, but it was recorded almost entirely from jam sessions. The band felt it could have aged better, so their second album was made with one intention, as singer/guitarist Geordie Greep told The Quietus: “This time, let’s make something that is actually good.”
Cavalcade delivers on this goal. Along with Squid, black midi are at the forefront of a movement of fearlessly experimental bands, unshackled by conventional song structures and unafraid to improvise. With unexpected changes, it’s an album that rewards concentration. This is a band with a high level of confidence in its audience – they’re not afraid to throw curve balls (in fact, you get the feeling it would pain them to throw a straight one). This isn’t a jazz album, but it has a similar sense of improvisational freedom, and a fearless approach to complex harmony and rhythm. From the sounds of it, no one pressured the band to produce a radio friendly hit – that or they just didn’t listen.
Opener John L slams in with blasts of four 16th note stabs from the entire band. Each set of stabs is separated by a 16th note rest, creating a disorientating rhythmic effect. Before you’ve had time to work out where the pulse is, they’ve shifted to a chaotic, chromatic unison riff between horns and guitar. Greep gets a moment in the sun at 2:20, where the band drops out to leave only his fuzzy chord stabs. These sound like the stabs at the start of the tune, but they’re actually a different rhythm. At 3:00, the horns start hitting stabs so regular your ear will think they’re quarter notes, but they’re actually dotted eighths (three-quarters of a beat each). The rest of the band seizes