BLACK MIDI Share new single and video ‘Slow’
Watch KEXP live performance
New album Cavalcade out May 28
Early praise for Cavalcade
“a masterful album – one which unsurprisingly surprises at every turn” – Loud & Quiet 9/10
“there’s not a single predictable second to be found on Cavalcade” – Uncut 9/10
“Consistently electrifying” – Mojo 4/5
Today, black midi present a new single/video, ‘Slow‘, from their forthcoming album, Cavalcade, out May 28th on Rough Trade / Remote Control Records. In conjunction, the band completed a new KEXP interview and live performance. A full circle moment for black midi, their first KEXPperformance (live from Iceland Airwaves in 2019) is how many first experienced the band.
Following lead single ‘John L‘, “a zoomed-out optical illusion, making you question what you’re witnessing at every turn,” (Pitchfork, “Best New Track”) ‘Slow‘ is one of two Cavalcade songs fronted by bassist Cameron Picton. The music for ‘Slow‘ was written just before black midi’s February 2020 UK tour with the lyrics finalised when demos were recorded in June 2020. They tell the story of a young and idealistic revolutionary dreaming of a better world who ends up being shot in the national stadium after a coup d’état.
“The ‘Slow’ video was made to fit the oscillating dynamics of the song. Going from calm to chaos over and over again,” says director and animator Gustaf Holtenäs. “The video tells the story of a character who creates AI-generated worlds. To emphasize this, I let real AI’s generate a lot of the backgrounds in these worlds. So they are partly AI-generated, but It isn’t long before an AI could create the whole deal and create endless iterations of fantasy worlds. It can already create a random beautiful landscape painting in 1 second.”
Cavalcade is a dynamic, hellacious, and inventive follow-up to black midi’s debut, Schlagenheim, one of 2019’s most widely-praised albums. Cavalcade scales beautiful new heights, pulling widely from a plethora of genres and influences, reaching ever upwards from an already lofty base of early achievements. black midi – Geordie Greep (guitar, primary vocals), Cameron Picton (bass, vocals), and Morgan Simpson (drums) – picture Cavalcade as a line of larger than life figures, from a cult leader fallen on hard times and an ancient corpse found in a diamond mine to legendary cabaret singer Marlene Dietrich, strolling seductively past them.
Pre-order / pre-save Cavalcade: https://blackmidi.
black midi – ‘Slow’ (Official Video)
Stream / Download: https://blackmidi.
black midi – KEXP Live Session
black midi – Cavalcade
1. John L
2. Marlene Dietrich
3. Chondromalcia Patella
4. Slow
5. Diamond Stuff
6. Dethroned
7. Hogwash and Balderdash
8. Ascending Forth
black midi – Cavalcade is out Friday 28 May
via Rough Trade / Rhythmethod
