Cameron Picton – former member of indie band, Black Midi – has unveiled his new project, My New Band Believe. An exciting, fresh endeavour, the new band celebrate their introduction to the world through the release of their first single ‘Lecture 25’ on February 14.
My New Band Believe’s ‘Lecture 25’ is also accompanied by its music video – a phantasmagorical adventure through South London that captivates viewers with its dynamic, homespun film style, directed by Jack Shep.
Reminiscent of Black Midi’s theatricality, Picton appears to be driving My New Band Believe’s sound into a lighter, stripped-back space, maintaining the melodic and fast-paced energy that his artistry has demonstrated thus far. The new single ‘Lecture 25’ pays homage to Dennis Hopper’s ‘Lecture 70’, with its swift, relentless flow of words echoing the expansive style of Jack Kerouac. As of yet, Picton has revealed that the single will not be on streaming services, as it’s “not time yet”, but will be “available pretty much everywhere else.” In other words, ‘Lecture 25’ can be digitally purchased.
Taking to Instagram to announce the news, the former Black Midi bassist shared the current lineup of My New Band Believe, posting: “Cameron Picton (Guitar, Vocals), Josh Finerty (Bass), King David Ike-Elechi (Drums), Seth Evan’s (Piano).”
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Picton’s new artistic embarkment follows the ‘indefinite breakup’ of Black Midi in 2024. Frontman Geordie Greep was the first former member to make solo efforts, releasing his debut album last year ‘The New Sound’ to critical acclaim. Creating contemporary cult hits such as ‘Welcome to Hell’ and ‘Sugar/Tzu’ since 2017, Greep confessed a sour end to Black Midi, revealing that in their last active months, “[the members] hadn’t really been on speaking terms.”
In discussion of My New Band Believe’s formation, Picton explained: “Recently, I had a couple of days off from the main thing I’ve been working on and spent them doing various writing exercises. I hadn’t written a proper song since before Christmas so thought it’d be a good way to get the ball rolling again. Of quite a large batch I ended up with three songs that had something about them. At first I thought about putting them out as is, recorded with my laptop mic and Zoom H6, unmixed, unmastered – exactly as bounced on when I first finished them, flaws and all. I later sent them to Seth and when he offered to mix, I thought: why not just record one properly?”
“We tracked it at RAK on the 11th of Feb with mixing taking place the next day. I also asked Jack (Shep) to make a video for it, which he then filmed concurrently, in time for a Valentine’s Day release. The idea for ‘Lecture 25’ was to set someone else’s words to my own music, I used Dennis Cooper’s ‘Lecture 1970’, which I adapted into about half the song’s lyrics.’
‘Lecture 25’ is available for download via Bandcamp.
