2022 - UK
Avant-Prog, Brutal Prog, Jazz Rock, Art Rock
“There’s always something / An odd twitch, a hearing loss, a ringing noise, new flesh, a new bump, a weightlessness / A headache, a sore limb, an itchy gash, a mirage, a tumour, a scare.” The opening lyrics of the opening song Hellfire are a road map for black midi’s new album, telling us that the most wrong word to describe their music probably is: straightforward. Just like Cavalcade (but even better), the band uses a brilliant storytelling to narrate the lives of people flirting with the devil, falling into his arms or trying to escape his hold. Sugar Tzu, Tristan Bongo, the Captain, a farmer, Satan himself, a Christian disciple, these are some of the characters appearing in the songs of Hellfire, all contributing to extend black midi’s mythology. The main strength of the band is their ability to intertwine references between albums and tell stories about moral principles and fallen religious icons evolving in an evil society. While saying this, it’s no surprise that black midi receive that much love from the internet culture, since every line and very reference can be the place of many theories making each song even more interesting. And that’s why I talk about mythology: interpretation, stories, characters. Just listen to the second part of The Race Is About to Begin, a masterclass in storytelling where black midi’s mythology finds its form into a stream of consciousness.
On Eat Men Eat, we can hear a cello, drums, tambourine, maracas, piano, accordion, bass guitar, whistles from trains, the police and the wind, clap sticks, cajon, handclaps, udu, percussions, tenor sax, trombone, trumpet, violin, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, a flute and 24 people for burps. And that’s only for one song. Hellfire is a beehive of blood and smirks going from flamenco to folk and so many other genres that pigeonholing this album in a specific genre would be a mistake. Theatrical, dramatic, Geordie Greep masterful vocals go from a showman on Hellfire (“Enough! Enough! Come in! Come in!”) to a lyrical crooner and a post-hardcore screamer. But saying this album is their more “theatrical” also means that the listeners are more involved in the listening process. More than ever, we are actors of black midi’s mythology. When the curtains open on Hellfire and closes on the marvelous 27 Questions, we are those the narrator is directly talking to, which makes it all even more immersif. However, there’s a flaw I’d like to mention. On Still, there’s an extraordinary shift in the melody around two minutes, the song taking a slightly more upbeat direction with, for once, a clearly recognizable rhythm. But this part is so short that it’s hard to develop an emotional connection to it. Black midi have so many musical ideas that they can’t develop them all or build their songs upon them all.
This example in Still shows something inherent in their formula that reduces the emotional impat their songs can have on me. That’s why Ascending Forth, Eat Men Eat, Hellfire or Near DT, MI and Western are among my favourites from them, because every idea inside those songs is developed so we can enjoy an emotional connection to their music thanks to the evolving original ideas. But then comes the lyrics, and as I said before their truly brilliant storytelling is what clearly takes me further into their music, especially one element almost all of their characters struggle with. Hubris, the fear of the individual of being forgotten, of being common, someone in the crowd, the fear of death, meaning the fear of accepting your humanity. These are poeple who want to be from another kind, another species. Hence the troubled soundscapes and structures crafting every black midi songs. Their melodies act just like their characters. But all in all, it’s during the sweet notes that our heartbeat slows down so we can contemplate what we have left outside the usual chaos: humanity in all its simpleness, always instantly moving.
On Eat Men Eat, we can hear a cello, drums, tambourine, maracas, piano, accordion, bass guitar, whistles from trains, the police and the wind, clap sticks, cajon, handclaps, udu, percussions, tenor sax, trombone, trumpet, violin, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, a flute and 24 people for burps. And that’s only for one song. Hellfire is a beehive of blood and smirks going from flamenco to folk and so many other genres that pigeonholing this album in a specific genre would be a mistake. Theatrical, dramatic, Geordie Greep masterful vocals go from a showman on Hellfire (“Enough! Enough! Come in! Come in!”) to a lyrical crooner and a post-hardcore screamer. But saying this album is their more “theatrical” also means that the listeners are more involved in the listening process. More than ever, we are actors of black midi’s mythology. When the curtains open on Hellfire and closes on the marvelous 27 Questions, we are those the narrator is directly talking to, which makes it all even more immersif. However, there’s a flaw I’d like to mention. On Still, there’s an extraordinary shift in the melody around two minutes, the song taking a slightly more upbeat direction with, for once, a clearly recognizable rhythm. But this part is so short that it’s hard to develop an emotional connection to it. Black midi have so many musical ideas that they can’t develop them all or build their songs upon them all.
This example in Still shows something inherent in their formula that reduces the emotional impat their songs can have on me. That’s why Ascending Forth, Eat Men Eat, Hellfire or Near DT, MI and Western are among my favourites from them, because every idea inside those songs is developed so we can enjoy an emotional connection to their music thanks to the evolving original ideas. But then comes the lyrics, and as I said before their truly brilliant storytelling is what clearly takes me further into their music, especially one element almost all of their characters struggle with. Hubris, the fear of the individual of being forgotten, of being common, someone in the crowd, the fear of death, meaning the fear of accepting your humanity. These are poeple who want to be from another kind, another species. Hence the troubled soundscapes and structures crafting every black midi songs. Their melodies act just like their characters. But all in all, it’s during the sweet notes that our heartbeat slows down so we can contemplate what we have left outside the usual chaos: humanity in all its simpleness, always instantly moving.