Geordie Greep’s debut solo album is a smutty mix of chamber pop, Baxter Dury and Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads. Over 11 tracks we are introduced to energetic, desperate characters envisioned and performed by the former Black Midi guitarist — they plead and prate and ultimately fail to reassure. As a group they seem locked in an occasionally delicious death spiral of substance abuse and sexual ennui. You’re going on a journey, or actually, several.
It’s a pretty frantic record, rattling around Latin Americana (it was recorded between São Paulo and London) alongside yacht-rock and Greep’s machine gun lyricism. Despite its versatility, the midpoint of the sound is probably Walk Up, which provides session-standard musicality that calls to mind sophisti-rockers Steely Dan.
Here we have soft jazz passing chords rumbling under joyously crude storytelling. He now veers towards Brett Easton Ellis or Martin Amis: “Check your balls for lumps once they’ve left / What’s that itch? Is it new? / Is that working as it’s supposed to? Am I alive?”
It’s pretty good, if exhausting, stuff. You aren’t quite drawn towards the characters, but you do want to know what happens to them.
One track that really connects is Holy, Holy, which marries furious Chicano guitar with a performance from another of Greep’s doomed protagonists. This time it's a pathetic lounge lizard in a negotiation with a lady of the night. “From the shores of Havana / To Moscow and Tokyo…’ he reassures. ‘“In French Guyanese, in Cantonese, Everyone knows my name.” Like many of the characters' caterwauls, this declaration of sexual prowess lands with comic tragedy.
‘The New Sound’ is interesting, intelligent and fairly original but it’s not necessarily something that you’d reach for loads. With Black Midi, Greep made his name as part of a band who were awesome in their musicality but sometimes a little cold and hard to connect with.
This record moves that musical personality from a dingy indie club to a dingy cabaret bar, and as the basis for a sound and a musical character, it is quite profound. It’s just that the composition isn’t quite there yet, despite comprehensive arrangements and deep musicality. It's technically very impressive, but it lacks soul.
Geordie Greep Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue October 22 2024 - BRISTOL Fleece
Wed October 23 2024 - FALMOUTH Cornish Bank
Fri October 25 2024 - CAMBRIDGE Storey's Field Centre
Sat October 26 2024 - LIVERPOOL Arts Club Theatre
Sun October 27 2024 - GLASGOW Classic Grand
Mon October 28 2024 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Cluny
Tue October 29 2024 - LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
Wed October 30 2024 - NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
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