Photo credit: Dan Kendall
Enigmatic London-based black midi shares a caustic new single, ‘Crow’s Perch,’ via Rough Trade Records. The accompanying video, directed and edited by Vilhjálmur Yngvi Hjálmarsson also known as susan_creamcheese, reflects the track’s frenetic energy, juxtaposing saturated graphics and peculiar scenes with mundane images. Since forming just over a year ago, black midi — Geordie Greep (vocals/guitar), Cameron Picton (bass/vocals), Matt Kelvin (guitar/vocals) and Morgan Simpson (drums) have quickly cemented their reputation as one of the hottest new underground bands, following a string of sold-out UK live dates and surprise shows punctuated by constantly shifting sets and blistering musicianship. Recently, the band played their first North American live shows, being named a standout act at SXSW and selling out their first two shows in New York.
Available digitally and as a CD-R single, ‘Crow’s Perch’ is the follow-up to black midi’s “eerily precise and austere” (Pitchfork) ‘Speedway’ single. The ‘Speedway’ single was accompanied by an EP of remixes by Proc Fiskal, Kwake Bass, and Blanck Mass. The 300 copies of their first-ever single, ‘bmbmbm,’ released on Dan Carey’s label, Speedy Wunderground, sold out instantly and had to be re-pressed within the first week.
“Almost every song black midi performs unfolds in surprising ways, one riff quickly switching to another, one mellow passage blooming into caustic screams and dissonant guitars, songs constantly collapsing in on themselves and being born again.” – Stereogum, “Band To Watch”
“one of the country’s most exciting new bands. An indefinable group, pushing guitar music into strange, hypnotic territory.” – CRACK Magazine
“They were one of the most talked about groups at SXSW this year, and for good reason—black midi laid waste to every stage they stepped onto and damn near burned the city to the ground.” – Paste
“…sometimes they’re post-punk, psychedelic, noise, prog, rock, indie or blues. But they are none of the above, something indefinable and new.” – The Quietus
“black midi are less interested in proving themselves the future of indie rock than in imagining indie rock from the future.” – Pitchfork
