Cavalcade - Black Midi: Review
Black Midi
are a British post-punk and experimental rock band who emerged in 2019 dropping a debut album to massive critical acclaim. Now two years later their contemporaries in British post-punk have dropped acclaimed debut albums of their own with both Black Country, New Road and Squid delivering projects earlier this year. Continuing to be ahead of the curve Black Midi released a selection of singles that seemed to transcend the conventions of the post-punk genre all together resulting in massive fan hype for the bands sophomore record in the rock underground.
Review By Lav:
Man was I excited for this record. While I did enjoy the bands debut I don't think I was quite as head over heels for some of its most popular tracks as many of their fans were and this resulted in me just thinking the album was good rather than one of the best of 2019. Despite that discrepancy the singles leading up to this record really excited me. Despite being just 8 tracks, Cavalcade shows off an incredible level of versatility pulling off a myriad of rock stylings with remarkable success. In a year that has been dominated by great post-punk it is just as impactful and creative as anything else I've heard from the genre in 2021.
The three singles for this record are an impressive bunch and the album wastes no time introducing you to some of its most remarkable qualities. John L was the lead single and opening track of the record and it still gets me just as excited today as it did when I first heard it. I love the mathy instrumentation looping in and out of each other and stopping at random times. The lead vocals are commanding despite not being a necessarily intense performance, yet they somehow manage to stand up perfectly to the insane instrumental. I also can't state enough how much I love the tongue and cheek revolutionary lyricism on the track that is both dark and often very funny. All in all this is one of the best songs I've heard in 2021. The next single was another major smash with me. Slow doesn't live up to its name at least initially where it delivers the same technical and off-kilter rock instrumentation featuring some of the tightest drumming you'll hear on any record this year. The vocals signify a slow down long before the instrumental does transitioning into a Slint like whisper as the instrumental gets quieter and slower around it. The second half of the song is truly transcendent as the jazz elements begin to flood in and pair with the haunting lyrical repetition to craft something truly terrifying and utterly intoxicating.
The other pair of tracks on the first half of the record are also quite strong and all work together to get the record off to a great start. Chondromalacia Patella was the third single and it gets off to a pretty crazy start with more instrumental gymnastics featuring a My Bloody Valentine like guitar wail. This time around the vocals seem to be channeling Nick Cave with a distant chambered sound as they crash into the songs mix and echo out. Lyrically speaking I think this track is a little bit more obtuse than the others but it still does manage to deliver evocative refrains that are often heightened by the instrumental insanity going on behind them. Marlene Dietrich is a very interesting shift in tone to something much easier to digest and almost dreamlike in its instrumentation. The vocal performance turns into something much more theatrical channeling a smoky night club like it's a Destroyer song. The performance here is honestly really well done and the lyricism matches with cutting emotion for another hit.
While it would be impossible for the second half of the record to live up to the first half, it definitely has a few songs I think are fantastic. Hogwash And Balderdash is a rapid throwback to the start of the record that drops some metallic percussion into the mix before erupting into a loud crash of instrumentation and some more of those bellowing very forward vocals. I love that this is a surreal story of two chickens named Hogwash and Balderdash who seem like they're on the run from the law. But you honestly don't get a hunt of comedy in the performance of the story which somehow makes it even more surreal. The gritty, heavy instrumental is absolutely intoxicating as well. I do think it's a bit strange to leave the song off where it does because it's right at the point where it feels like its hitting an instrumental stride then stops out of nowhere. Dethroned returns to the circular rhythmically complex instrumentals and Nick Cave like vocals right out of the gate as the lyrics call out in a sea of sliding guitars and drums that just pop out of the mix. The whole thing is absolutely dizzying but I'm all in. The only issue I have with the track is that some of the vocal passages can be obscured in a way that makes it hard to feel the impact of the words but that normally comes during a time where the instrumental is freaking out in a way so compelling it has my attention anyway.
Ascending Forth is an interesting closer whose title question has already become a memeable piece of indie canon. I do like the almost gospel inspired nature of the melodies and winding compositional elements. The track keeps you on your toes never knowing if the next section will feature horns, keys or some more conventional rock instrumentation. Unfortunately I feel like I've pretty much got the point of the song a few minutes before its over. I understand the desire to have a grand conclusion and it certainly does work its way up to that but by the time it comes I already feel like I've heard everything the song has to offer. It slightly dulls the impact of the records final moment when the grandeur fades out in favor of a quieter more serene ending. My least favorite song on the record is probably Diamond Stuff. It gets off to a very slow start with some quiet, intimate acoustic guitar plucks taking up the majority of its first few minutes. This section of the song takes its time developing first with some whispered vocals then eventually leading into some very angelic and distant harmonies that are in line with the instrumental slowly getting louder and more complex. This track does have some wonderful, immaculate sound play but at over 6 minutes it's also one of the only points on the record where I question if the runtime is a bit indulgent. With so many long passages of building or resting instrumentation it doesn't feel entirely necessary to the songs best moments.
Cavalcade does have some slight struggles here and there but for the most part it is a remarkably exciting, impassioned and creative rock record. The band really outdid themselves taking the thirst for experimentation they had on their debut and pushing it into wonderful new directions here. The sound is heavy and gritty, but also technical and dizzying in its instrumental complexity. Nowhere does the record feel indulgent as a result of its technicalities in fact it thrives with that complexity, managing to weave it throughout strong lyrical narratives and dynamic vocal performances throughout. This is certain to be among the best rock albums of the year, and just generally the best albums of the year period. In just a few shot years Black Midi have established themselves not only as one of the most creative and innovative modern bands, but quickly have become critical darlings whose music is likely to attract lots of attention, and even more praise for years to come. For anyone like me who was impressed, but not quite fully won over by the bands debut, Cavalcade is the record that demonstrates just how spectacular Black Midi are. 9/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:For more post-punk check out my review of Squid's Bright Green Field here
