Geordie Greep – The New Sound

Geordie Greep’s The New Sound, released on October 4, 2024, is a flamboyant, grotesque, and deeply theatrical solo debut that marks a dramatic departure from his work with Black Midi. Recorded between London and São Paulo, the album is a sprawling, genre-hopping spectacle that fuses progressive rock, jazz-rock, Latin rhythms, and avant-prog into a surreal sonic tapestry. It’s as if Greep took the bombast of Black Midi, stripped away its irony, and replaced it with raw emotion and absurd grandeur.

Thematically, The New Sound is Greep’s most transparent work to date. He explores passion, love, and longing—but always with a grisly twist. The songs feel like overheard confessions from strangers at a bar, full of delusions, desperation, and self-mythologizing. Greep has said he wanted to write “as many bizarre, grotesque love songs as possible,” and he delivers on that promise with tracks like “Holy, Holy” and “Motorbike,” the latter featuring lead vocals from producer Seth Evans.

The album’s narrative voice is manic and unhinged, spiraling through fantasies of grandeur and sexual deviance, all underscored by extravagant instrumentation. It’s escapism at its most theatrical—less a cry for help than a cabaret of existential dread. The closing track, a cover of Frank Sinatra’s “If You Are But a Dream,” ties the whole thing together with a wink and a sigh, suggesting that even the most absurd performances are rooted in real longing.