Black Midi have shared the music video for ‘Sugar/Tzu’, the latest single to be taken from their third album ‘Hellfire’. Watch below.
The video, directed by Noel Paul, is a trippy clash of images, based around a bloody boxing match that ends when a child shoots one of the fighters. It begins with the voice of boxing announcer Hus Ragip, depicted as a monkey.
In a statement on the new single, frontman Geordie Greep said it “imagines that in 2163 it’s possible to see a championship fight between two 600 lb men. Albeit in a so-called ‘Leadweight’ division.”
“The fight is between Sun Sugar and Sun Tzu; the latter being a fan of the Chinese general, hoping to channel his strength; and the former looking to continue the lineage of Sugar Ray Robinson, Leonard etc.” Greep commented.
“As Sun Sugar hits the deck, the crowd cheer and scream, believing this only to be the result of a particularly vicious shot from Sun Tzu. There is a little joke here. It is regular for a boxing audience to bemoan an early stoppage, the official stepping in to save a fighter who could’ve gone on.
“And while there is the surface agreement of most that ‘it was the right thing to do,’ there seems to be often left unsaid the fact that we actually do want to see a brutal knockout. And in the split second where these one-shot, punch-perfect, coma-inducing blows do occur, there is an undeniable rush.”
He added: “The boy in this story feels he is a hero for giving the crowd what they all really want. This is not to say the song is a critique of boxing or anything of the like – I love the sport – but it is an interesting and rare phenomenon worth exploring.”
‘Sugar/Tzu’ is third song taken from their forthcoming album after May’s ‘Welcome To Hell’ and last month’s ‘Eat Men Eat’.
‘Hellfire’ is released on July 15 via Rough Trade and follows last year’s ‘Cavalcade’ and the London experimental rock band’s 2019 debut, ‘Schlagenheim’.