The Genius of Geordie Greep's "The New Sound"

On October 4th, 2024, musician Geordie Greep dropped his first album after breaking up with his previous band, "black midi." The album itself is a wild storybook-like telling of strange, whimsical encounters Geordie had, but in all honesty, it's mostly up to interpretation. The best way to describe this album is that it's like if a theater kid became an adult and had way too many situationships, which also simultaneously led to them having multiple mental breakdowns. Much of the content, lyrics, and instrumentation on this album borders on the line of insanity, but I'm much more willing to call it genius.

(Cover for "The New Sound" by Geordie Greep)

From his clever yet repulsive lyrics to his moments of charm, Geordie keeps the listener completely engaged throughout this whole project. While listening, I found myself asking "How sick in the head is this guy?" and "What situation could have even prompted him to write this?" I asked many of these questions on tracks like "Through a War" and "As if Waltz," both of which we will dive deeper into later. Geordie paints these stories that make you question the desperation of man, sometimes making statements that are so disgustingly lustful I have to stop the song and look up the lyrics.

(Photo from @emperorgreep on instagram)

The album opens with the song "Blues," which, apart from some of its repulsive lyrics, is an amazing song from start to end. It was the second single to come out for the album and is one of the more popular tracks off the album. There is definitely a plot to this song, but it's very hard to put together, even though he is 100% talking about a girl. The ending of the song is also hard to put together, but from my interpretation I think he kills her with lines like "soon you'll be inside out" and "very soon you'll disappear, soon you'll disappear" whilst Geordie shouts these bars makes me assume the worst. Despite all this, "Blues" is a song with a breathtaking instrumental and marvelous vocal performance, making it one of the best tracks off this album.

The album's second track, "Terra," features an amazing mix between Brazilian samba-style music and Geordie Greep's lyricism from his "black midi" days. Geordie hasn't been shy in many interviews to admit his love for Brazilian music and "Terra" is an amazing show of that. From incredible orchestration to amazing, tasteful lyricism, "Terra" is truly a shining star on this album, as it has no flaws in my eyes. Ending with Geordie Greep letting out the most benevolent shriek as the instrumentation comes to an end, "Terra" is clearly one of the greatest and most catchy tracks on the album.

The third track on the album, "Holy, Holy," was also the first single to come out for the album and it's also one of the best. Geordie's playing is exquisite, and the lyrics aren't questionable enough for anyone to bat an eye at them if you're showing it to friends. On this track, Geordie is less lustful and appears to be much more of a male manipulator. This is easily one of the most enjoyable songs on the album and is much easier to consume as a music listener compared to many of the other tracks on this album. The song ends with a spectacle of an outro, closing perfectly and cementing it as top tier track on this album.

The fourth and fifth tracks on the album "The New Sound" and "Walk up" are great songs in their own rights. Although they are weaker notes on the album, they're still 10/10 tracks overall that help bring the album together. "The New Sound" is a fully instrumental track that takes the listener through a journey as Geordie orchestrates a tale through only instrumentation. "Walk Up" is a stellar track overall, it reminds me of the biker era of the US. Many of the movies from that time flow through my head while listening to that song, making it a great experience overall. Although these two tracks get outshined by many of the other tracks, they're still amazing tunes.

The album's sixth track, "Through a War," is without a doubt one of the top two freakiest songs on this album. It follows Geordie stationed as a general in love with a woman while also becoming the overlord of a town. He "burned down their churches" and "built an arcade" leading to him ruling over this territory with an iron fist. He carves his lovers name on everything in the territory before having a breakdown yearning for her. He then goes on to describe some freaky things that are so sick in the head and full of delusion that I'm unsure if I can even write about them here. Overall this song h magnificent orchestration while also sounding like a musical theater song. If you enjoy musical theater or heavy storytelling, this is definitely the track for you!

The album's seventh and eight tracks "Bongo Season" and "Motorbike" aren't as notable as many of the other tracks but are still amazing. Bongo Season has an amazing set of bongo playing behind it and is mainly instrumental with minimal lyricism. This might be unrelated but on his last album with "black midi" titled "hellfire" he mentioned the character "Private Tristan Bongo" many times. It's very unclear if there is any connection or if it's just a coincidence but it's an interesting bit of trivia nonetheless. "Motorbike" features Seth Evans who gives a magnificent performance combined with strangely introspective song-writing. For some reason I found his voice reminiscent of Isaac Wood from "Black Country, New Road" at some parts of the song. I will also say it might just be because they're both British men screaming but for some reason they sounded very similar. Either way, these tracks are both great in their own right and move the album along into its last couple of tracks.

The album's ninth track "As If Waltz" is without a single shadow of a doubt the freakiest song on the album. From lyricism that made my jaw drop combined with oddly beautiful instrumentation, this is definitely not a song to show your friends. Geordie ponders his relationship with a woman who's in a very inappropriate profession and the song gets incredibly disgusting. The main thing that saves this song is the amazing violin and many quieter, somber moments that fill the awkwardness of it. It also features a fun musical theater type recollection moment at the 4:35 minute mark. This revelation only makes me question more whether or not Geordie was a theater kid or not. Either way despite all of the freakiness of this song, "As If Waltz" has made its way into my heart and is clearly one of the best tracks off of this album.

The album's tenth track, "The Magician," is the undisputed masterpiece off of this entire album. It sits at a whopping 12:20 making it the longest track off this album as well. It follows Geordie recollecting and reminiscing about everything that's happened to him in a way that flows like poetry. Throughout the song it builds up until it reaches a point where it all completely bursts towards the end. The orchestration reaches a max point as Geordie exclaims many of the lyrics in the most beautiful, satisfying manner. Many fans would call it his "Basketball Shoes" by "Black Country, New Road" because of it's emotional content, length, emotions of true desperation, and the overall feeling that rushes through as you listen. This song is the embodiment of yearning for someone who might not even exist anymore as they might have just disappeared one day. Geordie describes this using the metaphor of a magician as he illustrates, "Like the magician who disappears from no one. He speaks until his lies become sound. Like the magician disappears and never reappears. Like the magician disappears from no one. He speaks until his voice becomes sand. He disappears after a while." It's moments and lyricism like this that cement "The Magician" as the best song off of "The New Sound" or possibly even of all time.

The album closes off with it's 11th track, "If You Are But a Dream," a cover of the song sung by Frank Sinatra. After listening to the rest of this album, the closing song being a Sinatra cover only makes sense. After so much jazz and samba inspiration being used on this album, this track fits like a glove. In a way this song is symbolic of Geordie accepting his situation and learning to be content with it. It's very slow and sappy but in all the best ways and, on some listens, makes me shed a couple of a tears. "If You Are But a Dream" is an astounding outro for this album and in my opinion puts a bow on this masterpiece of an album.

Overall, I would rank Geordie Greep's "The New Sound" an absolute 10/10. From front to back this record is just an absolute fun time and Geordie doesn't disappoint at all. Throughout the album you find yourself slowly understanding Geordie's insanity as the music flows into different states of being. For example, on tracks like "Holy, Holy," Geordie switches up his playing multiple times, blending multiple styles in an absolutely clever way. Featuring stellar orchestration, genius yet repulsive song-writing, and one lovable British man at the center of it, this album is a must listen.