English rock outfit Black Midi has released a new animated music video for “Slow” a track set to be featured on their upcoming studio album Cavalcade, out May 28 via Rough Trade Records. The band has also announced a slew of Fall 2021 tour dates, which are set to take place across the United States this October.

“Slow” is an eclectic blend of animated genres, with its character designs looking like a modern update of 1970s anime, while the set designs blend in hyper-realistic scenery with old-school art, evoking comparisons to La Planète sauvage. The bombastic, otherworldly instrumental takes cues from Brainfeeder with its cosmic jazz influences and Black Midi’s post-punk roots with its drums and guitar chords.

“‘The ‘Slow’ video was made to fit the oscillating dynamics of the song. Going from calm to chaos over and over again,” director and animator Gustaf Holtenäs said in a press release. “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.”

Last December, Black Midi released two Christmas covers: “Jingle Bell Rock” and “What Christmas Means to Me,” which they performed in their trademark experimental rock style. The February before, Black Midi released an epic  11-minute song called “Sweater,” a track that was originally released in 2018 ahead of their debut studio album Schlagenheim.

Fall 2021 Tour Dates

10/4 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
10/7 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre
10/8 – San Diego, CA – The Casbah
10/9 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy and Harriet’s
10/11 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Cafe
10/12 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall
10/14 – Lakewood, OH – Mahall’s
10/15 – Pittsburgh, PA – Spirit
10/15 – Kingston, NY – Tubby’s
10/18 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
10/19 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
10/21 – Baltimore, MD – Union Brewery
10/23 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle Tavern
10/26 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn
10/27 – New Orleans, LA – Republic
10/29 – Austin, TX – ??????????
10/30 – Houston, TX – The Secret Group