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Mar 23, 2021 By Joey Arnone

black midi have announced a new album, Cavalcade, which will be out on May 28 via Rough Trade. The band has also shared a video for the album’s lead single “John L.” Check out the Nina McNeely-directed video, along with the album’s tracklist and cover art, below.

Cavalcade, which is described as depicting “a line of larger than life characters” in a press release, is further explained by bassist Cameron Picton: “When you’re listening, you can imagine all the characters form a sort of cavalcade. Each tells their story one by one and as each track ends they overtake you, replaced by the next in line.”

The majority of the album was recorded at Hellfire Studios in Dublin under the supervision of sound engineer John “Spud” Murphy. Frontman Geordie Greep elaborates on the process behind its creation: “It worked really well with John. We wanted a natural, open sound combined with fourth wall breaks—for lack of a better expression. Do you know on record when you can hear the tape screeching, the things that make you aware that you’re listening to a recording? [With a lot of records] it feels like either you’re listening to the ECM, high-fidelity, 25 mic amazing sound or you have the lo-fi album full of crazy effects. And I thought, ‘Why not have an album where you combine the two?’ That was one of the main ideas going into it and John was very keen on that idea.”

The band’s debut album, Schlagenheim, came out in 2019 on Rough Trade, and made it to #30 on our Top 100 Albums of 2019 list.

Cavalcade Tracklist:

1. John L
2. Marlene Dietrich
3. Chondromalacia Patella
4. Slow
5. Diamond Stuff
6. Dethroned
7. Hogwash and Balderdash
8. Ascending Forth

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