
GEORDIE GREEP
The New Sound (Rough Trade)
Geordie Greep has confessed he was always going to feel trapped within the monogamy of a conventional band format (as ridiculous as it seems to describe the recently disbanded Black Midi in those terms), craving casual flings with other musicians outside that marriage of convenience. The New Sound – its title surely the most blunt and direct statement he’ll ever make – is Greep the auteur unleashed, an even wilder and freer realisation of what’s in his head.
Opener Blues is relatively familiar in its tumble of lyrics and incredible clattering drums, similar in feel to William Shatner’s collaboration with Henry Rollins. But elsewhere Brazilian bossa nova and big, brassy arrangements soundtrack the nauseating narratives of a motley crew of weirdos, grotesques, lecherous barflies and corporate sleazeballs.
The record peaks with The Magician – an amplification of everything that’s preceded it – before concluding with a cover of crooner classic If You Are But A Dream, Greep finally allowing his inner Sinatra to play it straight. Eccentric, maddening, totally unique.
words BEN WOOLHEAD