Like Black Midi? Check out Cross Country Locomotives by experimental progger Levi Nice

Levi Nice standing in the garden by some laundry
(Image credit: Press)

Leeds-based experimental post-rock artist Levi Nice has shared his chaotic second single, Cross Country Locomotives - you can listen to it below. It's taken from his upcoming debut album, Oh Our Father’s Children! which will be released on September 2 via new label Counter Clockwise Records.

Says Nice, "This track came about as I was beginning to experiment with Klezmer scales and different ways of incorporating Eastern European folk music into the post-rock sound. This Eastern European influence can heard in the syncopated accordion patterns and trill horns sections."

Although the multi-instrumentalist and producer's sound contains audible elements of Black Midi and Grinderman, his influences come from a larger pool. He's even name-checked Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound as key inspiration for his current material.

He adds, "Godspeed You! Black Emperor was a major influence on this track and specifically their use of noise and texture. I aimed to create that same sense of disorientation through digital manipulation. As well as GSY!BE, the influence of Steve Reich can be heard prominently in the collapsing guitar arpeggio in the first section."

Stream Cross Country Locomotives below.

Natasha Scharf
Deputy Editor, Prog

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.