Black Midi were an English band formed in London in 2017 by musicians who had studied at the BRIT School. In seven years they made three studio albums for Rough Trade, earned a Mercury Prize nomination with their debut and took “Hellfire” to No. 1 on the Official Progressive Albums Chart. This guide to black midi covers that seven-year career, the line-up behind it and where to start listening.

The short version

The band, who styled their name in lowercase as black midi, played their first gig at The Windmill in Brixton in June 2017 and Wikipedia counts them among the leading names of the scene around that venue. A live session recorded for the Seattle radio station KEXP at Iceland Airwaves in November 2018 spread widely online, and Rough Trade signed them in January 2019. “Schlagenheim” (2019) was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. “Cavalcade” (2021) and “Hellfire” (2022) followed as a trio, after guitarist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin stepped back in 2021. The band stopped in August 2024, and Geordie Greep released his first solo album that October.

From The Windmill to the Mercury shortlist

Greep, Kwasniewski-Kelvin, Simpson and Picton all came through the BRIT School, and the first three began by jamming together there. According to Wikipedia, the name was taken from black MIDI, a Japanese style of electronic music, although their own music has no obvious link to it. After the opening show at The Windmill they played a residency at the venue, and their first single, “bmbmbm”, came out in 2018 on Speedy Wunderground, the label run by producer Dan Carey. AllMusic’s biography by Bekki Bemrose notes that they built a cult following quickly while giving very few interviews and keeping away from social media.

“Schlagenheim” was recorded with Carey at his Speedy Wunderground studio in November 2018, mostly over five days, and released on 21 June 2019. The songs grew out of long jam sessions, and Wikipedia reports that Carey added piano, accordion, synthesisers and drum machines, textures the band could not easily reproduce on stage. The album entered the UK Official Albums Chart at No. 43 in July 2019, and on 25 July it was named among the twelve albums shortlisted for that year’s Mercury Prize, which went to Dave’s “Psychodrama”. Wikipedia reports a Best New Music tag from Pitchfork.

Cavalcade, Hellfire and the end in 2024

In January 2021 the band announced that Kwasniewski-Kelvin would not feature on their forthcoming material, and “Cavalcade” was made by Greep, Picton and Simpson with saxophonist Kaidi Akinnibi and keyboardist Seth Evans from the touring line-up. Released by Rough Trade in May 2021, it reached No. 60 on the UK Official Albums Chart and No. 4 on the Official Progressive Albums Chart. Reviewing it for AllMusic, Fred Thomas wrote that it “sounds like Primus covering King Crimson,” and heard the band moving towards prog, fusion and jam-band territory.

“Hellfire”, released on 15 July 2022, saw the band experimenting with first-person narratives; Greep, as reported by Wikipedia, likened it to an action film where “Cavalcade” had been a drama. It became their highest-charting record: No. 22 on the UK Official Albums Chart and No. 1 on the Official Progressive Albums Chart. In August 2024, answering questions during an Instagram livestream, Greep said the band was over. Pitchfork, citing the band’s management, reported an indefinite hiatus while the members worked on solo projects, as Wikipedia records. Greep’s solo debut, “The New Sound”, came out on Rough Trade on 4 October 2024.

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Album by album

Three studio albums, all on Rough Trade, from “Schlagenheim” (2019) to “Hellfire” (2022). Tap any title for its guide.

The players

The founding line-up was Geordie Greep on guitar and vocals, Cameron Picton on bass and vocals, Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin on guitar and vocals, and Morgan Simpson on drums. The singing was shared: on “Schlagenheim” Greep takes the lead on six of the nine tracks, Picton on “Speedway” and “Near DT, MI”, and Kwasniewski-Kelvin on “Years Ago”. Critics cited on Wikipedia widely singled out Simpson’s drumming for its precision and energy.

Kwasniewski-Kelvin did not play on “Cavalcade”, though he took part in the writing sessions and has co-writing credits on “John L” and “Chondromalacia Patella”. From then on the band worked as a trio with guests. Picton sings lead on “Slow” and “Diamond Stuff” on “Cavalcade”, and on “Eat Men Eat” and “Still” on “Hellfire”, where the core three are joined by saxophone, trombone, trumpet, violin, cello and pedal steel. On tour they sometimes appeared under an alter ego, the Orange Tree Boys, presented as a funk blues band from Las Vegas.

Where to start

Start with “Hellfire” (2022), their biggest chart success and a No. 1 on the Official Progressive Albums Chart. AllMusic’s Paul Simpson hears it pushing the avant-prog of “Cavalcade” further, with more showmanship, and compares it to Mr. Bungle and Fred Frith rather than King Crimson; he points to the seven-minute “The Race Is About to Begin” as its centrepiece.

Then go to “Cavalcade” (2021), which in Fred Thomas’s AllMusic account swings from prog to orchestral pop to near-ambient post-rock. Finish with “Schlagenheim” (2019), the Mercury-shortlisted debut that Thomas links to the uneasy American indie rock of Slint, Shellac and Unwound more than to classic post-punk.

Why they matter

Black Midi matter to the progressive story because critics kept placing them in it. Wikipedia’s infobox lists experimental rock, math rock, art rock, avant-prog, progressive rock, brutal prog and jazz fusion. AllMusic’s biography describes a blend of math rock, prog, post-punk and avant-jazz, and the Official Charts Company placed “Hellfire” at the top of its progressive chart.

The record shows how far that music travelled: a Mercury Prize shortlist for a debut, tours of Europe and the US, and three albums in the UK top 60 within seven years. I follow the modern progressive scene, from the neo-prog revival to bands like this one, in my book Beyond the Decades.

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