The groundwork for Cavalcade was laid in 2019 – musical sketches that had
been brewing since the release of Schlagenheim began muscling their way into
black midi set lists and finally became individual entities. But with this
album, there was a “yearning” to be more considered and record something
that was more harmonically interesting and challenging. “It’s easy to get
wrapped up in the improvisation myth of divine intervention, that if a song
doesn’t happen in the room naturally without it being guided by someone
specifically, when we’re all just feeling the vibe, then it’s not proper
and it’s not pure,” says Greep. “That’s kind of a dangerous thing
because you end up never trying something different, or you just abandon an idea
if it doesn’t work at first because you’re always waiting for that thing to
arrive perfect.”
With this new approach in mind, half of Cavalcade was written by individual
members at home and brought to the table in rehearsal. Simpson confirms it was
to their advantage: “The experience this time round was completely the
flipside to Schlagenheim. A lot of the material was really fresh but that was
something that played into our hands and we relished it.”
After initially recording ‘John L’ with producer Marta Salogni in London,
the band found themselves in the aptly named Hellfire Studios, in the Dublin
mountains, in summer 2020 under the eye of John ‘Spud’ Murphy. Geordie
comments: “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.”
With original band member guitarist/vocalist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin taking time
away from the group to focus on his mental health, black midi chose to augment
their sound on Cavalcade, rather than replicate it, with saxophonist Kaidi
Akinnibi and keyboard player Seth Evans.
Following the release of Schlagenheim, The Times (UK) called black midi “the
most exciting band of 2019.” They were featured in the New York Times
Magazine’s annual music issue, named a Rising artist by Pitchfork, Band to
Watch by Stereogum and Artist You Need to Know by Rolling Stone. The New York
Times, Pitchfork, Stereogum, SPIN and beyond featured it in their best albums
of 2019.
