black midi are on hiatus, but frontman Geordie Greep has just announced his debut solo album, The New Sound, which is out October 4 via Rough Trade. “With recording The New Sound, it was the first time I have had no one to answer to,” Geordie says. “And with every impulse I had, I was able to completely follow it through to its conclusion. Being in a band (black midi), we often have this ‘we can do everything’ feeling, but you are also kind of limited in that approach, and sometimes it’s good to do something else, to let go of things.”
Geordie worked with over 30 musicians on the record in both London and São Paulo. “Some of the tracks we had recorded already, elsewhere, but it just wasn’t right, so we re-recorded them with new people,” Geordie says. “Half of the tracks were done in Brazil, with local musicians pulled together at the last minute. They’d never heard anything I’d done before, they were just interested in the demos I’d made. The tracking was all done in one, maybe two days. Then we did the overdubs later, in London.”
The first single from the album is “Holy, Holy,” which is unlike anything Greep has released before. A lascivious tale of a nightclub encounter, it plays like loungy, big-band disco — or as Greep describes it, “noughties indie pop chords and bravura Latin big band arrangements.” The video is set in a bowling alley and is as lurid as the music. Watch below.
Greep will be bringing The New Sound to NYC next month and now there are now four shows: Union Pool on September 10, Nublu on September 11, TV Eye on September 12 and the just-added Sultan Room on September 13.
UPDATE: Geordie has also announced a listening party for The New Sound at Williamsburg Pizza on Monday, September 9. details below.
He’ll be back in early 2025 for a proper solo tour, and tickets for those dates go on sale Friday, September 23 at 10 AM local time. All dates are listed below.
THE NEW SOUND:
1.Blues
2.Terra
3.Holy, Holy
4.The New Sound
5.Walk Up
6.Through A War
7.Bongo Season
8.Motorbike
9.As If Waltz
10.The Magician
11.If You Are But A Dream
GEORDIE GREEP – 2024/2025 TOUR DATES
Wed-Aug-21 – Map Studios, London SOLD OUT
Fri-Aug-23 – Map Studios, London SOLD OUT
Fri-Aug-30 – Brighton Psych Fest @ Concorde 2, Brighton
Sat-Aug-31 – Manchester Psych Fest @ Gorilla, Manchester
SEPTEMBER NYC RESIDENCY
Tue-Sep-10 – Brooklyn,NY Union Pool SOLD OUT
Wed-Sep-11 – New York,NY Nublu SOLD OUT
Thu-Sep-12 – Brooklyn,NY TV Eye
Fri-Sep-13 – Brooklyn,NY Sultan Room
Thu-Sept-19 – Reeperbahn Festival @ Knust, Hamburg
Thur-Oct-10 – Llais Festival @ WMC (w/ Squid), Cardiff
Sat-Oct-19 – Isolation Festival, Budapest
Tue-Oct-22 – Fleece, Bristol
Wed-Oct-23 – The Cornish Bank, Falmouth
Fri-Oct-25 – Storey’s Field Centre, Cambridge
Sat-Oct-26 – Arts Club, Liverpool
Sun-Oct-27 – Classic Grand, Glasgow
Mon-Oct-28 – The Cluny, Newcastle
Tue-Oct-29 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Wed-Oct-30 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Fri-Nov-01 – Les Nuits Botanique Weekender @ Orangerie, Brussels
Sat-Nov-09 – Pitchfork Festival @ EartH, London
Tue-Dec-03 – Point Ephemere, Paris
Thu-Dec-05 – Lido, Berlin
Fri-Dec-06 – Bitterzoet, Amsterdam
Sat-Dec-07 – Doornroosje, Nijmegen
Mon-Dec-09 – Magnolia, Milan
Tue-Dec-10 – Bad Bonn, Düdingen
USA TOUR 2025
Fri-Jan-17 – Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
Sat-Jan-18 – Baltimore, MD Ottobar
Sun-Jan-19 – Raleigh, NC Kings
Tue-Jan-21 – Asheville, NC Eulogy
Wed-Jan-22 – Atlanta, GA The Earl
Fri-Jan-24 – Nashville, TN The Blue Room
Sat-Jan-25 – St Louis, MO Off Broadway
Mon-Jan-27 – Minneapolis, MN 7th St. Entry
Tue-Jan-28 – Madison, WI High Noon Saloon
Fri-Jan-31 – Chicago, IL The Empty Bottle
Sat-Feb-01 – Kalamazoo, MI Bell’s Eccentric Cafe
Mon-Feb-03 – Toronto, ON Velvet Underground
Wed-Feb-05 – Montreal, QC Bar Le Ritz
Thu-Feb-06 – Brattleboro, VT The Stone Church
Fri-Feb-07 – Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall