black midi – “Slow” [Video]

black midi present a new single/video, “Slow,” from their forthcoming album, Cavalcade, out May 28th on Rough Trade. In conjunction, they announce a fall North American tour, plus a new KEXP interview and performance. A full circle moment for black midi, their first KEXP performance (live from Iceland Airwaves in 2019) is how many first experienced the band. Following lead single “John L,” “Slow” is one of two Cavalcade songs fronted by bassist Cameron Picton. The music for “Slow” was written just before black midi’s February 2020 UK tour with the lyrics finalised when demos were recorded in June 2020. They tell the story of a young and idealistic revolutionary dreaming of a better world who ends up being shot in the national stadium after a coup d’état.

“The ‘Slow’ video was made to fit the oscillating dynamics of the song. Going from calm to chaos over and over again,” says director and animator Gustaf Holtenäs. “The video tells the story of a character who creates AI-generated worlds. To emphasize this, I let real AI’s generate a lot of the backgrounds in these worlds. So they are partly AI-generated, but It isn’t long before an AI could create the whole deal and create endless iterations of fantasy worlds. It can already create a random beautiful landscape painting in 1 second.”

You can pre-order the album HERE.

black midi Tour Dates:
Mon. Oct. 4 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Thu. Oct. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
Fri. Oct. 8 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
Sat. Oct. 9 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
Mon. Oct. 11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
Tue. Oct. 12 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
Thu. Oct. 14 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
Fri. Oct. 15 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
Sat. Oct. 15 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s
Mon. Oct. 18 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Tue. Oct. 19 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Thu. Oct. 21 – Baltimore, MD @ Union Brewery
Sat. Oct. 23 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle Tavern
Tue. Oct. 26 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
Wed. Oct. 27 – New Orleans, LA @ Republic
Fri. Oct. 29 – Austin, TX @ ??????????
Sat. Oct. 30 – Houston, TX @ The Secret Group