Even though almost all of the songs on Black Midi’s sophomore album Cavalcade are over five minutes long, not a second on this record seems unintentional. Each chord progression and every rhythm change feels deeply deliberate while at the same time allowing Black Midi to maintain a sense of mesmerizing improvisation and experimentation throughout that allows them to blend jazz and punk rock so expertly. Cavalcade is a journey through a dark world of endless sounds and styles melting together to form a beautiful orchestra, and by the end of the album’s nearly ten-minute finale, it truly does feel like you have “ascended forth.”

By Paul Shoening