Schlagenheim, the debut album from rising U.K. band Black Midi, is due out on Friday, and today we got another exciting taste via new single “Ducter.”
As with other Black Midi tracks, “Ducter” is genre-agnostic, flowing freely between polyrhythmic Afrobeat and ambient post-rock. Geordie Greep’s spine-tingling vocals are seemingly delivered from the center of a satanic summoning circle, turning familiar language entirely alien with ease. He somehow over-enunciates and mumbles at the same time, imbuing new semantic meaning into repetitions of the same phrase throughout the track, inevitably relinquishing his connection to language to guttural wails and screams.
“Ducter” is appropriately attached to an animated video from Anthrox Studio that wouldn’t feel out of place in a post-internet art exhibition. Exploring various 3D environments, the video disassembles castles, constructs cities, melts classical art and erupts nuclear power stations. The visuals conjure feelings of uncanniness and surreality, not unlike Black Midi’s sonics.
If all of this piques your interest, you’re in luck: Paste recently caught up with Greep ahead of their much-anticipated debut, and you can read all about their songwriting process here.
Schlagenheim is out June 21 via Rough Trade. Watch the video for “Ducter” below, then revisit lead single “Crow’s Perch” here.