When I first saw Black Midi nearly two years ago at New Century Hall in Manchester, my mind was blown, I was enthralled by what I was seeing on stage, my eyes as wide as humanly possible, stood in complete awe as others around me screamed every word back to the band.
From that moment, I had to know everything I could about them and dove headfirst into the band’s highly rated debut, Schlagenheim.
This feeling of pure encapsulation into a new sound invading my ears is exactly what overcame me when I listened to the debut solo album from Geordie Greep.
The album starts with ‘Blues’, a funky track with hints of Black Midi.
The bass and drums hit hard here, reminiscent of Japanese funk and city pop. It is a song that shows the listener that Greep has fun with this without the ties of a band.
Another track that stands out is Holy, Holy, the first single Greep released; it’s a gripping song with an instrumental that keeps its hooks in you for the six-minute run time.
It fuses what fans already knew about Greep and Black Midi with a newfound swing and rhythm. The video for this track may be my favourite part, however, showing an exhilarated Greep strutting around the lane of a bowling alley,
Cavorting like a cabaret star, this seems like the type of stunt Greep has been yearning for and is finally free to do under his name.
As the album draws towards a close, Greep truly puts his flexibility on display.
In ‘The Magician’, a more heartfelt earth song that shows off some excellent acoustic guitar fused with the mixture of intense vocals, it feels like the end of a movie where everything comes into place, and the listener is left in awe, just wanting to go back again.
Jammed full of the frenetic yet somewhat controlled energy of Black Midi, Geordie Greep says a lot with this record, and that is that he is free to explore all the ideas he wants to, and to me, it works perfectly!
Whether you have never heard of Black Midi or Geordie Greep, this album is an amazing start to that journey, all I can say is get ready for the ride it takes you on.
Geordie Greep: The New Sound – Out 4th October 2024 (Rough Trade)
Greep – Holy, Holy (youtube.com)
