John L vinyl

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'John L' isn't the most comforting single you will have heard recently, but it may be one of the most rewarding. Black Midi opening their latest with frantic drum rolls and tense melodic string loops, it conjures memories of movie scores like Psycho and Requiem For A Dream, seemingly threatening to explode into a new metal assault. That doesn't quite happen, but the hallucinatory cacophony - not a million miles from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - leaves nobody behind. Or, more accurately, leaves no prisoners.

The English experimental rockers strike again, and with aplomb, as the track ploughs forward on its uncompromising, frenetic and anxious course, marking this out as arguably their most musically accomplished (certainly most musically extravagant) song yet. A huge contrast to the suitably redemptive, strangely empowering acoustic guitar and soulful vocal duet, 'Despair'. The word 'original' does not do this lot nearly enough justice.