My New Band Believe - My New Band Believe
Fast-paced and sweeping in scope, the debut album from My New Band Believe is an elegant immersion into the beauty of chamber folk.
In 2023, the music world was shaken by the news that black midi — the beloved band of indie enthusiasts and RateYourMusic regulars — had disbanded. Not long after, frontman Geordie Greep released his solo record The New Sound: a meticulously crafted and conceptually tight album that felt like a continuation of the band’s artistic trajectory. Yet another question lingered in the air: what would become of the other members?
The answer arrived soon enough. Black midi’s bassist Cameron Picton stepped forward with his own project, My New Band Believe, and its self-titled debut. Inspired by an illness Picton experienced while traveling through China, the record is vast and spellbinding. Predominantly acoustic in texture, it weaves together over a hundred string instruments, offering the listener a sweeping palette of sound and emotion.
Despite this, the album can hardly be called calm. Take the opening track, “Target Practice”, where Picton coldly repeats the line “Don’t cry, you deserve this” in the chorus, almost like a mantra. The narration then cuts off just as abruptly as it begins, flowing into the restless “In the Blink of an Eye”, where the frontman opens with the direct question: “Do you ever feel like somebody’s watching you?”. This kind of fourth-wall breaking stands in striking contrast to the music itself, which often feels like the soundtrack to a medieval drama. Just as you begin to feel like a passive observer, the record deliberately pulls you back into its center.
While maximalist in spirit, the album never feels overcrowded. This may be due to its concise runtime (only eight tracks, though even the two eight-minute pieces never overstay their welcome) or perhaps to Picton’s instinct as a kind of master conductor, constantly steering the music forward and preventing it from settling into stasis. “Actress”, for instance, slowly builds tension over eight minutes before suddenly fading out, like a candle extinguished in a dark room.
One of the album’s true highlights is the delicately expressive “Love Story”, which sketches a romantic evening between partners. Here, Picton’s songwriting reaches its peak, as intimacy gradually gives way to unease: writing a love song is easy, but not every one of them lingers in your mind long after it ends. In contrast, the closing track “One Night” works in reverse — it feels like the darker counterpart to “Love Story”, imagining what might happen if things fall apart. Moments like these encourage repeated listens, each return revealing new layers of meaning and references — whether to Picton’s work in black midi or to his contemporaries (such as Black Country, New Road’s “Pigs/Turbines” echoed in “Pearls”, or Jockstrap’s “Sexy 2” in the aforementioned “Love Story”).
Overall, the debut of My New Band Believe is an impressive achievement. It is a collection of songs that drift across contrasting emotional landscapes, yet ultimately form a coherent and deliberate whole. Deeply sensitive, candid, and at times enigmatic, it is a work that invites constant revisiting — a chamber piece where you are both spectator and protagonist.
8.1/10
