Biography:

Black Midi (stylised as black midi) were an English rock band from London, formed in 2017. Their most recent line-up consisted of lead vocalists and multi-instrumentalists Geordie Greep and Cameron Picton, along with drummer Morgan Simpson. Between 2017 and 2020, the band also included guitarist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin. Following his departure, the trio were frequently joined by multi-instrumentalist Seth Evans and saxophonist Kaidi Akinnibi, both as session musicians and during live performances. Their name is derived from the Japanese electronic music genre black MIDI, though their own music has no obvious relation to it, instead incorporating styles such as math rock, progressive rock, post-punk, and avant-jazz.[2]

Part of the Windmill scene, the band began on producer Dan Carey‘s record label Speedy Wunderground, through which they released their debut single, “bmbmbm”, in 2018. They released their debut studio album, Schlagenheim, produced by Carey, on 21 June 2019, through Rough Trade Records. It received critical acclaim,[3] entered the top 50 of the UK Albums Chart, and was nominated for the 2019 Mercury Prize. An anthology album including several recorded jams and spoken-word tracks, The Black Midi Anthology Vol. 1: Tales of Suspense and Revenge, was released on 5 June 2020 exclusively to Bandcamp. In January 2021, founding member Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin went on hiatus from the group for mental health reasons. The band’s second studio album, Cavalcade, was released on 26 May 2021. Their third studio album, Hellfire, was released on 15 July 2022.[4]

The band entered an indefinite hiatus in August 2024, as each member focused on other work;[5] Greep released his solo album The New Sound, Picton formed a new group, My New Band Believe, and Simpson began working with jazz musician Nala Sinephro and rapper Little Simz, appearing on their albums Endlessness (2024) and Lotus (2025) respectively.

History

2015–2019: Formation and first singles

Prior to the formation of the band, Geordie Greep had separate jam sessions with Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin and Morgan Simpson, all of whom (alongside Cameron Picton) were attending BRIT School.[6] Simpson was an accomplished drummer, coming from a Jamaican musical family and winning the “Young Drummer of the Year” award in 2014.[7] In 2016 Greep and Kwasniewski-Kelvin enlisted Simpson to form a band, with Greep and Kwasniewski-Kelvin on guitar and vocals, and with Simpson on drums. Picton joined later, on bass guitar, to complete the line-up.[8] The band played their first gig at Brixton‘s The Windmill on 12 June 2017, supporting the band Leg Puppy,[9] and would go on to have a residency at the venue, becoming one of the Windmill scene‘s biggest exponents.[10][11] In April 2018, the NTS channel released a video of an off session at Flesh and Bone studios, being the first video and original music release of the group, later that session would be formally released as “Talking Heads”.

On 8 June 2018, the group released their debut single, titled “bmbmbm”, on producer Dan Carey’s record label Speedy Wunderground.[12] On 26 September 2018, a cassette was released featuring segments of a performance with Damo Suzuki which took place on 5 May 2018 at The Windmill. On 9 November 2018, Black Midi performed five songs from their then untitled upcoming album, live at Kex Hostel in Reykjavik, Iceland, during the music festival Iceland Airwaves.[13] The eccentric performance, which was recorded for the Seattle radio station KEXP, was praised online and became popular on YouTube, exposing the band to listeners internationally.[14][15] The band contributed the song “Ice Cream” featuring Jerskin Fendrix on vocals for a Brixton Hillbilly compilation album, released 7 December 2018.[16] On 23 January 2019, the group released their second single, “Speedway”. A 12″ vinyl record was released featuring remixes by Proc Fiskal, Kwake Bass, and Blanck Mass.[17]

Credits: