By ORION BAKER/Columnist
Hello, all, and welcome to Duke Reviews!
This is a bi-weekly column, which will provide honest thoughts and feedback about music or movies. In these reviews, I will dissect what makes them great or not-so-great.
I’m Orion Baker, and I’m an avid music listener, music enjoyer and music collector of essentially any genre of music. From country to hip-hop to avant-garde foreign music, you name it, and I probably like at least one song from that genre. I’m also getting more into movies. I’m no cinephile, but I like good movies.
For Duke Reviews, I would take readers’ recommended albums or movies and talk about them. Since this is the first one, I can’t do that, so I decided to choose the first subject. Before the review, I’ll provide necessary context on 2024 music.
2024 MUSIC OVERVIEW
2024 was an amazing year for music. It saw both the rise of new fantastic faces to the music scene and the return of some classics. Chappel Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charlie XCX were some of the biggest breakout artists of that year. 2024 also saw the return of Tyler, The Creator and Kendrick Lamar. The latter responded with beef between himself and Drake.
A lot of great albums came out as well: “CHROMAKOPIA” by Tyler, The Creator, “Brat” by Charlie XCX, “Charm” by Clario and “Cowboy Carter” by Beyoncé.
With so many great albums, choosing a favorite album wasn’t easy.
Despite all these other great albums, one truly stood out to me: Geordie Greep’s “The New Sound”.
THE NEW SOUND: CONTEXT
Born in 1999, Geordie Greep is an East London musician best known as both the frontman and the lead guitarist in the band Black Midi. The band formed in 2016 when Greep met his bandmates while attending BRIT School, a creative arts and performing school.
The band would go on to have a critically acclaimed run, releasing three full-length albums, touring across the U.S. and Europe between 2021-2023 and winning awards such as Best Heavy Record for their album “Hellfire” in 2023. The band is currently on an indefinite hiatus as confirmed by the band members via interviews and social media in 2024. This has led them to pursue solo careers or join new bands.
“The New Sound” was released on Oct. 4 2024 which was Greep’s first solo album. It received significant praise. As its name suggests, Greep’s album explores and experiments with new sounds such as Brazilian tropicalia.
THE ACTUAL REVIEW
Where. Do. I. Begin.
This album is nothing short of beautiful. Each track builds on itself to create one cohesive album of pure, raw talent. You can tell that Greep is first and foremost a musician whether it be from the production, the lyrics or the composition.
With a total of 11 tracks (one of which being a cover of Frank Sinatra’s “If You Are But a Dream”) and help from over 30 musicians and some of Greep’s old bandmates, everything comes together nicely. The total effort behind the record makes this album one of the most hypnotic pieces of music I’ve ever heard.
Whether it is Greep’s fun, offbeat and often disturbing lyrics or the wide variety of instruments and influences behind the record, it’s really hard to be unbiased. This is a testament to true creativity and experimentation with a “new sound.”
Despite all of this, I do have some notes.
While this album is great, the lyrics often play into either a disturbing character Greep is playing or Greep’s own character. As it is hard to establish a fine line between the character and Greep, one may find what is said on these tracks even weirder. This can be seen on tracks like “Holy, Holy,” “As If Walz” and “Blues” where either Greep or his character—more likely than not his character—talk all proud and extravagantly about himself, yet deep down, he wants someone to truly love him.
The story of the album is about how the narrator/character falls in love with a prostitute, later gets married and then leaves the relationship, trying to chase the high of love from the prostitute.
This is exemplified especially in the crescendo of “Holy, Holy” when Greep says “I want you to put your hand on my knee/Will that be alright?” This shows the connection the character and the prostitute had. This continues into the latter half of the album when he escapes his new relationship and chases the high mentioned before.
This theme of wanting to find true love is easily the most prominent idea explored in “The New Sound.” There is also the theme of machismo, the values it takes to be a true “man,” and how once it is stripped away, one is left with a frail and lonely person, yearning for more.
SCORING & CONCLUSION
Overall, I had a lot of fun with this album. I listened to it at least 15 times now and I consistently find new stuff to love and appreciate about it, and it has led to me finding a slew of new artists to enjoy. The exploration of sounds and experimentation are truly enjoyable and make for a nice change of pace. While some of the lyrics and themes here are odd, this album truly showcases Greep’s talent, ability as an artist and himself as a human.
Score: 9/10
Favorite Tracks: Holy, Holy, Terra, Bongo Season
Least Favorite Track: If You Are But a Dream
And that concludes the first review! I hope you enjoyed my very obviously masterful dissecting skills with media. If you enjoyed it and want to see one of your favorite albums or movies reviewed by me, please tell us! You can submit movies or records that I should review through this form. Like I said in the intro, any genre, any movie—you name it—I’ll give it a try.
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