The cause of death is unknown.
The founding guitarist of the experimental London post-punk band Black Midi is dead. The record label Rough Trade announced on Monday morning (January 12th) that Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin had died after a long mental illness. He was 26 years old.
There is no concrete information about the cause of death.
Read Rough Trade’s statement here:
From the BRIT School to the windmill scene
Kwasniewski-Kelvin met his future bandmates as teenagers at the BRIT School, a performing arts school in London. In 2017, Black Midi played their first gig at the Brixton club Windmill and quickly became a central part of the so-called Windmill scene. This also included bands like Squid, Shame, Fat White Family and Black Country, New Road.
Breakthrough with “bmbmbm” and international success
In 2018, the band released their debut single “bmbmbm” on producer Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground label. The track was characterized by its tense, harsh and at the same time explosive sound aesthetic. After a highly publicized performance at the 2019 SXSW festival, Black Midi signed with Rough Trade. The debut album “Schlagenheim” was released in the same year and received countless positive reviews and a nomination for the Mercury Prize. The band toured worldwide until the coronavirus pandemic ended concert activities.
Break due to health reasons and band dissolution
In early 2021, Black Midi announced that Kwasniewski-Kelvin was taking a break for mental health reasons. He was no longer heard on the second album “Cavalcade” (2021), but received songwriting credits for individual tracks, including the single “John L.”.
After a third album “Hellfire” (2022), the group broke up. Singer Geordie Greep later explained in connection with his solo debut “The New Sound” (2024) that the band members no longer spoke to each other in the end.
After leaving Black Midi, Kwasniewski-Kelvin was heard on some tracks on Wu-Lu’s album “Loggerhead” in 2022. In 2024 he released the solo protest song “Paedophile Ring” on Bandcamp [Free Palestine] [End the holocaust] [End the war now]“.
The musical legacy of Black Midi
Black Midi were considered one of the most innovative bands in the British post-punk scene of the late 2010s. The group combined math rock rhythms, atonal guitar tones and experimental song structures to create a distinctive sound that defied easy categorization. Their three studio albums showed a continuous stylistic development: While “Schlagenheim” sounded even rawer and more immediate, “Cavalcade” and “Hellfire” expanded the sonic spectrum to include progressive rock elements, jazz influences and complex arrangements.