Geordie Greep , the 25-year-old musician striking out on his own after seven years with English avant-rock favorites Black Midi , is sitting in one of Frank Sinatra’s old haunts in New York City, sipping an afternoon martini and discussing how, on his solo debut, The New Sound (out Oct. 4), he really wanted to sing . “There’s that phrase that a band’s only as good as its drummer; well, a singer’s only as good as the song,” Greep says.
“At one point, I thought, ‘Wait, if I’m singing this music, there’s no use being insecure or shy about it — go for it.’ I think there’s a tendency in experimental music to do this great instrumental, but the singing we’ll do a bit looking off to the side, like an afterthought. And it’s like, listen — in songs, singing is the main thing.
Why not go for it? Really work on it and pay attention to it. Get the right takes.” The right vocal take for the album’s latest single, “Blues” — premiering today on Rolling Stone — was the first one.
“First time even singing the lyrics,” Greep says. “It was all very impromptu, and it was the sort of thing where it was like, finish the take — ‘Nah, probably not gonna get it better than that.’” “Blues,” like a lot of Greep’s music, moves at a frenetic, off-kilter pace, and this one can feel particularly labyrinthian, propelled through its various sections by manic bass and guitar riffs and the spitfire drumming of Greep’s old Black Midi bandmate, Mo.