Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin, founding guitarist of the experimental London post-punk band Black Midi, has died. Rough Trade, the band's label, announced his passing on Instagram this morning, writing that his death comes "after a long battle with his mental health" and adding, "Please take a moment to check in with your loved ones so we can stop this happening to our young men." Kwasniewski-Kelvin was 26.
Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin met his Black Midi bandmates as a teenager, when they were going to BRIT School, a performing arts school. They played their first show in 2017 at Brixton venue the Windmill, and they quickly became a key part of what was known as the Windmill scene, alongside likeminded acts Squid, Shame, Fat White Family, and Black Country, New Road.
In 2018, Black Midi released their debut single "bmbmbm" on producer Dan Cary's Speedy Wunderground label. It's a tense, skronky, explosive track that doesn't fit comfortably into any subgenre. Their follow-up single "Speedway" scratched many of those same itches. Black Midi made a big impression at SXSW in 2019, where one of their gigs was at at Stereogum's Range Life party. They were a Band To Watch on this website soon afterward. They signed with Rough Trade, and their acclaimed full-length debut Schlagenheim came out soon afterward. Schlagenheim got great reviews and a Mercury Prize nomination, and the group played all around the world, doing the buzz-band circuit, until COVID made that impossible.
During the pandemic, Black Midi engaged in unconventional activities like a radio play, a jam/spoken word record, and a pair of Christmas covers. Early in 2021, the band announced that Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin was taking a hiatus from the band for mental health reasons. He did not appear on their 2021 sophomore album Cavalcade, though he did have songwriting credits on a couple of tracks, including the single "John L." Black Midi released one more album, 2022's Hellfire, before breaking up. The band didn't explicitly announce their split, but when Geordie Greep released his 2024 solo debut The New Sound, he said how they hadn't really been on speaking terms at the end.
Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin played on a few tracks on Wu-Lu's 2022 album Loggerhead, and he released the solo protest track "Paedophile Ring [Free Palestine] [End the holocaust] [End the war now]" on Bandcamp in 2024. Check out some of his work below.
