Goodbye to Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin, founding member of Black Midi

Black Midi guitarist and co-founder Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin has passed away after “a long battle with his mental health issues”. as stated in the press release of the group’s label, Rough Trade. He was 26 years old and had met the other members of the group at the BRIT School in London: Geordie Greep, Cameron Picton and Morgan Simpson: the band became one of the leading names of the London alternative scene: “Music to question certainties, to discover fascinating, but at the same time dark, characters, a wall of sound that is schizophrenic and impossible to climb”, as we wrote in 2022, at the time of the release of the third album, “Hellfire”

Kwasniewski-Kelvin, at that time, however, was no longer part of the group, from which he left between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, after the debut album “Schlagenheim”, produced by Dan Carey and released in 2021. In 2021, he wrote: “I’m taking some time away from the band because I’m not mentally well. I hope to be back soon”. Black Midi disbanded in 2024 and Kwasniewski-Kelvin had continued to play in London and released a solo song in support of Palestine in 2024.

In the family statement released by Rough Trade we read:

“A talented musician and kind, loving man ultimately did not make it, despite all his efforts. Please take a moment to reach out to your loved ones, so we can prevent this from continuing to happen to our young men.”