Geordie Greep Melds Rock and Brazilian Jazz on ‘The New Sound’

London singer Geordie Greep balances jazzy passages and bongo-heavy percussion on his debut solo album.

Shortly after black midi, Greep’s experimental rock band, announced an indefinite hiatus in August 2024, Greep announced his debut album “The New Sound” along with the lead single “Holy, Holy.”

Throughout “The New Sound,” Greep creates a cast of fictional characters, as though starring in his own one-man musical. Greep blurs the lines between his characters’ fictional narratives and his real life.

The album’s opening moments feature the frantic plucking of guitar strings, starting and stopping abruptly. 

“Blues,” released as a supporting single, introduces a key theme for the album — boisterous bragging. In the song, Greep proudly lists strangely specific attributes about himself, such as having perfected the English language so he can curse the best. 

“Terra” is deeply infused with Brazilian jazz and bossa nova influences, complete with syncopated guitar rhythms, improvised piano grooves and blaring horn breaks. 

Brazilian music was a huge inspiration for the album, which was partly recorded in São Paulo. In an interview with The Quietus, Greep praised Naná Vasconcelos’s 1980 Brazilian jazz album “Saudades,” stating it’s “one of the best albums ever.”

The following track, “Holy, Holy,” sees Greep singing with exaggerated swagger over piano and guitar heavy instrumentation, claiming to be so well-known he’s the holiest in the land. A long, soaring bridge in the second half creates a feeling of ascension — not to heaven, but rather the peak of delusion.

The titular track is an instrumental piece of jazz-rock fusion, inter-spliced with bass solos and bongo percussion. In the latter half, backing vocals are sung over escalating piano chords, providing an angelic aspect to an otherwise turbulent song.

“Walk Up” is full of pounding guitars, similar to those present in black midi’s “bmbmbm.” While the first verse is calm, with hushed vocals and bare instrumentation, the second verse explodes into a violent sax solo kicked off by a scream from Greep.

“Through a War” is a storybook-esque tale of a tyrannical king who pursues a woman at the cost of his kingdom. Fittingly, the song begins with a ceremonial fanfare of trumpets. 

The aptly named “Bongo Season” is a largely instrumental track, with its percussion dominated by bongo drums. Greep sings meekly over the dancing piano, bass and percussion lines throughout the song. 

“Motorbike” is the only track to not feature vocals from Greep, as collaborator Seth Evans sings from the perspective of a man experiencing a midlife crisis. The narrator leaves his wife, sells his belongings and lives on the run, riding a Yamaha motorbike. 

While the song’s introduction starts mellow, it’s interrupted by a jolting drum break, sinking the track into disjointed, sonic chaos. 

Starting in total dissonance, “As If Waltz” explores the relationship between the narrator and a prostitute. As the song progresses, Greep constructs a completely fictional future between them — desperately pleading for her love by the end. Realizing a romance between the two is unlikely, Greep yells in agony. A guitar solo erupts out of his screech, fading out into oblivion just like their love.

The 12-minute epic “The Magician” sees Greep dealing with the aftermath of a failed relationship. As each verse passes, it seems as if he starts to decay more and more, lamenting not only the romance, but his entire life. He compares himself to a magician performing a disappearance trick with no one watching.  

In the final verse, Greep’s singing becomes overshadowed by noisy, claustrophobia-inducing instrumentation. Ultimately, the music takes over, leaving Greep in the dust.

The closing track, “If You Are But A Dream,” is a cover of a song popularized by Frank Sinatra, detailing the fear of unrequited love. Sung through Greep’s “geographically unclassifiable” accent, the cover is muddied and rough around the edges, while still maintaining the raw emotion of the original.

“The New Sound” is an album packed to the brim with Brazilian jazz, cacophonous sounds, chaotic instrumental passages and the endless pursuit of love. Greep crafted an album that exhibits extreme romantic deprivation, underscored by intense jazz-rock instrumentation to create a stunningly unique record.

“The New Sound” is available on all major streaming platforms.