Former Black Midi leader Geordie Greep has been moving the pieces into place for his first solo album — debuting a new live band, booking American shows, and then properly announcing The New Sound with the polarizing lead single “Holy Holy” — and in the midst of all that activity, he confirmed what his solo rollout had been implying: Black Midi are “indefinitely over.”

Now Greep has offered a bit more detail on the state of his former band. Speaking to NME, he explained that his forthcoming album marks “the ​first ​time ​that ​I ​was ​very ​transparent ​about ​the ​kind ​of ​music ​I ​like ​listen ​to.” He continued, “​I ​loved ​being ​in ​Black Midi, but these ​are ​songs ​that ​lend ​themselves ​to ​playing ​with ​different ​people. ​Also, ​I ​wanted ​to ​start ​doing ​something ​which ​was ​more ​under ​my ​own ​name ​and ​try ​something ​more ​versatile. ​I ​knew ​I ​wanted ​to it ​eventually.”

Greep’s confirmation of the Black Midi split caught his former bandmates off guard. Bassist Cameron Picton wrote on Twitter/X, “We’d agreed not to say anything about ‘breaking up’ so I was as blindsided as everyone else last night but maybe in a different way. I guess sometimes all you can say is lol.” Meanwhile the band’s management told The Quietus, “After a successful tour including South American dates, they agreed to have a break and do some solo work, with the understanding the Black Midi door [would] be left open.”

In the NME piece, Greep acknowledges that the band had agreed not to mention a breakup. But he says he felt like he had to be blunt about it because people kept asking him:

If ​I ​was ​to ​do ​it ​again, I ​probably ​would ​have ​done ​it ​differently. But ​in ​the ​moment, ​it ​felt ​very ​important ​to ​me ​that it should be said. We ​hadn’t ​really ​been ​on ​speaking ​terms as a band a while before ​that, it had broken ​down in ​communication. When ​we ​first ​decided ​we’re ​not ​going ​to ​do ​[Black Midi] ​anymore, ​we ​had ​said, ​”Let’s ​not ​say ​anything ​because ​everyone ​will ​just ​forget.” In ​a ​few ​months ​it’ll ​be ​obvious, ​and ​we ​won’t ​need ​to ​say ​anything ​about ​it. ​But ​then ​it ​became ​apparent ​that ​wasn’t ​really ​the ​case. People ​were ​all ​the ​time ​saying, ​”What’s ​happening?” ​I ​thought… who ​cares? Let’s ​just ​say ​it. It’s ​over – I ​don’t ​want ​to ​string ​anyone ​along.

Though Greep agrees that the end of Black Midi is “a sad thing,” his main takeaway is more pragmatic: “You ​do ​a ​band ​for ​a ​little ​bit, ​do ​it ​for ​three ​years, ​have ​a ​great ​vibe, ​and ​then ​finish. Nothing’s ​meant ​to ​go ​on ​forever ​and ​ever.” We’ll always have our memories!