Together Alone: black midi's Lockdown Evolution
The path towards excellent new album 'Cavalcade'...
*black midi* are a conundrum. Arriving in a blaze of media hype, the band’s debut album ‘Schlagenheim’ was genuinely unclassifiable, a kind of prog-math-punk wonder that bulldozed established formulas and build enormous, endlessly intricate structures in their place. The question arose, however: what next?
In a way, life forced their hand, with the departure of guitarist Matt Kwaseniewski-Kelvin sparking a period of re-adjustment. Then, just when the now three-piece built up a plan, the world changed – the pandemic swept across the UK, and black midi were left to wonder if they’d ever play live again.
“I think naturally when there’s one less person in the world, things are going to morph into something new,” says bass player Cameron Picton. “I think we were quite aware that we couldn’t re-produce what Matt did, and does, because he does that very well. So we really tried to relish playing in the power trio format, because there are so many epic trio rock bands. We really took to the space that was now there, and it meant that when things did hit, and come in hard, there was more impact because there isn’t as much going on.”
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New album ‘Cavalcade’ is the end result of this period of evolution, and it more than matches its *Mercury nominated* forebear: punchy, powerful, and completely startling, it exists in its own world, the Venn diagram permitting a crossover between three wholly original musicians.
“I think we’re much prouder of what we’ve done,” says the band’s Geordie Greep. “The first album was a bit of a fluke, but this has been good. The songs on this album have come out the way they have because we’ve worked really hard on them.”
“It was just a much longer process in terms of getting there,” adds drummer Morgan Simpson. “After the album came out, we had this approach that was similar to how we were doing it before but with a bit more thought. We were getting some ideas from jams and putting that together with the stuff people did at home. It was just a lot more thought through, and as time went on, both through design, and the global stance of the pandemic (with not being able to be together), it kind of meant we were able to - and were forced to - have a completely different approach. Not just an improved approach, but a completely radically different approach.”
Working separately, each member was permitted the space to let their ideas flourish, before bringing them in to the group. “When you’re alone,” says Geordie, “you’re able to go down individual stylistic rabbit holes. Being able to not think about the band because everything was on pause and being able to create things that you enjoy and then then sending it between each other, to then seeing that the best bits went on the record – that got everyone was excited.”
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Opening track ‘John L’ is perhaps the more explicit evocation of black midi’s new power trio format: it’s an inferno of noise, with relentless guitar shredding set against Morgan’s percussive attack. The drummer comments: “The whole thing we’ve had since the beginning of our band, is that we’ve wanted to be able to make whatever music we want. We had all these possibilities in our head and have said before we often got caught up in being this crazy instrument jamming band, but that was a good one to break out of, because we can do whatever really interests us.”
As it unfolds, ‘Cavalade’ never once repeats itself. From the plucked acoustic notes on ‘Marlene Dietrich’ via the Minutemen-esque prog-punk-funk of ‘Slow’ to the nine minute suite that underpins closer ‘Ascending Forth’, it’s an exhilarating experience. A record imbued with a sense of incredible understanding between three young musicians, the album is made all the more surprising through the awareness that each part was largely written separately.
“I think it was in some ways made easier by the fact there weren’t very many distractions at that time,” adds Cameron. “So, it was far easier for us to focus on what we wanted to do!”
“With everything that’s happened in the past year, has caused us to really ask questions about ourselves and the band. Of course, the circumstances were tragic, but I think a lot of people had the time to think and reconsider what they actual want to do with life. And because we had that mentality going into recording the album, it was quite easy to be focused.”
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As is almost always the case in these pandemic times, black midi are speaking to Clash over Zoom. We’ve caught them literally as they disembark from a 6Music session, an all-too-rare performance in public – if we include the people on set, and those at home – from a band who rank as one of the most electrifying live experiences around.
Desperate to stretch those live music, black midi want to turn every aspect of their life and music up to its maximum setting. Already working on their third album – “it’ll be out next summer,” Geordie promises – Morgan is dreaming of a stadium support slot with some childhood heroes: “I think that’s the road map to supporting ACDC’S comeback tour, that’s the real goal!”
Closely tied to London’s Brixton Windmill venue, black midi recently returned to the independent redoubt for a tiny live show. Tapping into the unleashed restraint that pulsing through out veins, they’re promising something incredible from an upcoming series of live shows.
“It’s going to be the wild west man!” beams Cameron. “Everyone’s going to go crazy, I think people are going to love it. You know what’s going to be good as well? People would’ve had a proper chance to listen to the album because there’s been no shows. By the time there are shows again, people will actually know them and won’t have to talk between the songs they don’t know – but maybe by that time we’ll have album three and four finished.”
Geordie starts to laugh: “And five!”
Morgan joins in: “And six!”
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'Cavalcade' is out now.
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