Cameron Picton, formerly of British art-rockers Black Midi, has released his debut album under the moniker My New Band Believe. The record, which features entirely acoustic instrumentation, marks a departure from the chaotic maximalism of his previous band, offering a more understated and melodic approach.
The album is recorded with a host of left-field and improv-friendly musicians, including veteran drummer Steve Noble, once of post-punk hellraisers Rip Rig + Panic. Its sound is built around fingerpicked guitar, double bass, piano and percussion, augmented by string arrangements. The lyrics largely abandon the flights of fancy that characterised Black Midi's oeuvre in favour of a more direct approach, touching on themes such as lost domestic contentment and fatherhood.
While the album is less kaleidoscopic in stylistic range than Black Midi, it still deals in songs that are episodic and strange. Unexpected key changes and shifts in mood and pace recall the fidgety restlessness of Van Dyke Parks' 1967 album Song Cycle. The eight-minute track Heart of Darkness moves between folky guitar and jazzy drums, breezy acoustic soft rock, and a sparse, ominous coda.
The result is an album that feels less distant and less inclined to showboating than Picton's previous work, without ever pandering to the listener. It is admirably unbound by standardised song structures, yet its constant sense of movement is contained by the instrumentation, making it easier to love than merely admire.
