Just days after the news of the break-up of Black Midi, the great British art-rock band – or at least their “indefinite” disbandment – their leader and singer Geordie Greep announces his first solo album. ‘The New Sound’ goes on sale on October 4.
‘The New Sound’ is an album recorded between London and São Paulo, and it shows in its lead single, ‘Holy, Holy’: the album combines “indie-pop chords” with “Latin big band arrangements,” according to the official press release, and that is exactly what this first preview offers.
This is an exuberant composition that goes from the typical guitar and drum stabs of black midi, to smooth pop with hints of contemporary jazz from Steely Dan and Christopher Cross, and from there to salsa, and from there to mixing all these sounds until the song reaches its boiling point. In six minutes, Greep plants his flag as an author outside of the band that made him famous, signing one of his most hysterical and crazy compositions.
‘Holy, Holy’ is also Geordie Greep’s delusions of grandeur. It’s a flirtatious song, but only because Greep thinks he’s the king of the world. He’s a grown-up: “They know me in Moscow and in Tokyo, and in French Guiana, all the revolutionaries know me, even the jihadists, they all know who I am,” the artist sings.
In a statement, Greep explains that he has sought a “new sound” for his first solo album, and that he has done so with the participation of Felix Stephens in the arrangements and Seth “Sank” Evans in the production. Harvey Grant provides the arrangement for the final song, a cover of Frank Sinatra’s ‘If You Are but a Dream’.
