Imagine a long-lost collaboration between King Crimson and Steely Dan, circa 1980; now imagine they got they best session musicians in Latin America to lay down an absolutely stomping instrumental; lastly, put Donald Fagen, Scott Walker, and a rabid hyena in the machine from The Fly and give whatever comes out of it a microphone. That’s about as close as I can get to describing “Holy, Holy,” the solo debut of former black midi frontman Geordie Greep.
It was only last week that London experimental rock band confirmed their much-rumored split, but already, Greep is back with a new sound; in fact, it’s The New Sound, the title of his upcoming solo debut album, which comes out October 4th on Rough Trade records. Recorded partially in Sao Paolo with over thirty local session musicians, the record is shaping up to be a jazz-rock curveball that might outweird the absurdity of black midi’s swansong record Hellfire. “Holy, Holy” follows a sleazeball failing to flirt with a woman of the night, set against a lavish mishmash of genre pastiches; funky chord progressions, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and even some decidedly-black-midi-esque blasts of distorted guitar. And don’t worry; Greep’s bizarre yowling vocals are here in spades, the perfect way to put the edge on this addictively-smooth track. It’s only August, but this might be my favorite song of the year; it’s certainly one of the strangest.
Check out the psychedelic video for “Holy, Holy,” here.