Geordie Greep: ‘The New Sound’ Review
The album artwork for The New Sound
The disbandment of a group can be a tough pill to swallow, especially if their time is short-lived. Such is the case with black midi. Hailing from London, they put out three incredible albums that saw them go from noise rockers to becoming the poster boys for avant garde prog in the 21st century.
Now, what does any of this have to do with the album I’m currently reviewing? Well, it’s the debut by the band’s frontman, Geordie Greep. Just merely two weeks after he put the group on indefinite hiatus, Geordie announced his solo album that would see him indulge in all of his musical influences. How did it turn out? I might be biased as a fan of black midi but I think this absolutely delivered.
The New Sound is both a fitting title for the album and also quite paradoxical, as while there are undoubtedly familiar sounds one may recognize from his time with black midi, most notably the utter chaos created by the songs Blues and Motorbike, there are also moments that definitely sees him explore new territory like the full on salsa of Terra or As if Waltz’s mixture of disco grooves and waltzing baroque pop.
It’s also worth nothing that four of the album’s eleven songs, one of them being the aforementioned Terra was recorded in São Paulo using local musicians from the area to provide authentic Brazilian and South American influence, which can be felt even in the songs where they aren’t playing. And speaking of playing, Geordie Greep and his long list of musicians are firing on all cylinders here.
A great showcase of that musicianship is with the instrumental title track, which sounds like a fusion of 70s Zappa, Casiopea and Al di Meola. Throughout the track it has the band happily trading off musical ideas from the deceptively simple to the ridiculously complex. Walk Up (formerly known as Lumps for those in the know) and Motorbike, which has producer Seth ‘Shank’ Evans taking vocal duties also stand out on the musicianship front, whether it’s the former’s sax solo or the latter’s energetic drumming courtesy of Morgan Simpson of black midi.
The music is only half of the experience however as Geordie Greep is also a gifted lyricist. He has a tendency to write character studies about morally wrong people and their subsequent downfall, which is something this album has in spades. Bonkers lead single Holy, Holy for example has Geordie take on the role of a supposed womanizer which gets slowly revealed throughout the course of the song to be merely a facade the character has set up to make himself look good. Other lyrical highlights include the tongue-in-cheek yet disturbing Through a War and most importantly, the epic twelve-minute centerpiece The Magician, a piece of music that’s been circulating around internet circles since 2022.
I want to spend a paragraph on this song in particular because not only do I think it’s the best song of the record, but I also think it’s Geordie Greep’s masterpiece period. Chronicling a journey of self-discovery after a nasty break-up, the song starts simple with light percussion and guitar establishing the main musical theme that will be used as the backbone for everything else to follow. As the instrumentation gets more layered and dense however, it all strips back down to just keys and vocals where the main character’s insecurities are at the forefront. Sweeping strings and accordion creep themselves in and eventually as the fate of the character has been firmly sealed the song devolves into pure chaos leaving the listener stunned as it reaches its conclusion.
A lovely Frank Sinatra cover finishes the proceedings and as the curtains come down you’re fully convinced of the mad genius at work with Geordie Greep and his new sound.
