black midi have shared “Slow,” the second single off their upcoming sophomore album Cavalcade (due 5/28 via Rough Trade), following lead single “John L.” The song is a manic trip through avant-garde jazz and experimental art rock, and as with “John L,” the video is just as nuts as the song itself. Director/animator Gustaf Holtenäs says:

The ‘Slow’ video was made to fit the oscillating dynamics of the song. Going from calm to chaos over and over again. The video tells the story of a character who creates AI-generated worlds. To emphasize this, I let real AI’s generate a lot of the backgrounds in these worlds. So they are partly AI-generated, but It isn’t long before an AI could create the whole deal and create endless iterations of fantasy worlds. It can already create a random beautiful landscape painting in 1 second.

Alongside the new single, black midi have also released a KEXP session, in which they performed “John L,” “Slow,” two previously unreleased songs from the new album (“Dethroned” and “Hogwash and Balderdash”) and one other song called “Sugar/Tzu.” Check that out below too.

black midi also scheduled a North American tour for this October, including a Kingston, NY show on 10/15 at Tubby’s, a NYC show on 10/19 at Webster Hall, and more. Tickets for the Webster Hall show go on sale May 4 at 10 AM. All dates are listed below.

black midi — 2021 Tour Dates
Mon. Oct. 4 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Thu. Oct. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
Fri. Oct. 8 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
Sat. Oct. 9 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
Mon. Oct. 11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
Tue. Oct. 12 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
Thu. Oct. 14 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
Fri. Oct. 15 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
Sat. Oct. 15 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s
Mon. Oct. 18 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Tue. Oct. 19 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Thu. Oct. 21 – Baltimore, MD @ Union Brewery
Sat. Oct. 23 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle Tavern
Tue. Oct. 26 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
Wed. Oct. 27 – New Orleans, LA @ Republic
Fri. Oct. 29 – Austin, TX @ ??????????
Sat. Oct. 30 – Houston, TX @ The Secret Group