Gideon Black brings sensitivity to Greek mythology with jazz-inspired “demeter”

His third DIY single to date, “demeter” details the infamous Homeric Hymn of Hades, god of the Underworld, who abducts Persephone, daughter of Demeter. In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the titular goddess of Black’s song stood for harvest, agriculture, and the fertility of the earth. “The story has been told to death but so often misinterpreted in my opinion,” Black tells BEST FIT. “A young girl is kidnapped by her uncle and forced into a marriage to him. The song is written from the perspective of her mother Demeter, and the profound anger and frustration she feels that no one is helping; no one seems to care. I mean, she literally started a famine to get the other gods to pay attention, to bring her back. Cheery topic.”

Lyrically speaking, Black’s Logic Pro releases have been totally delicate, nothing less than thoughtful. Intricate arrangements combined with earnest songwriting, and a sense of scale that would befit the expressive scenes of an ancient Greek amphitheatre. In the case of “demeter”, certainly an old-timey jazz club or speakeasy hide-out would be apt. A slightly rock-infused vigour presents itself on guitar and steady drums, both taken care of by Black. His friend Anna Adetiba shines on the sax. As a vocalist, he exists in the shadows, not unlike Tricky on his dark trip-hop bible Maxinquaye. Despite its echoey intensity, given the story’s tragic nature, Black stands clear in his understanding of the shrugged emotions his mythical subjects should be owed, foregrounded.

Rereading the foundations of Hades and Persephone was a terrifying realisation for Black. How the male gaze of a child goddess in Percy Jackson’s Rosario Dawson, with hindsight, was a mistake. But Black’s history with myths does not stop at kids’ films. His Argentine father grew up in Brazil, and it’s a similarly ill-fated character from Brazilian folklore that directly inspired his debut single “iara”. “I was really struck by the fact that her fate was sealed by the fear of a woman being stronger than a man, and so I wrote about it,” he details.

Mythology serves as a great ideas bank, devoid of any escapist element, since most of what Black has written actually concerns personal experience: “a bigger family”, his second single, is about betrayal, chosen family, and how “family is guaranteed.” “If I'm stressed, or my anxiety riddled brain is going and doing its thing, if I start playing the guitar, it kind of just melts away. Same with the drums, in particular, the drums are very cathartic. So I suppose, in that way, it’s an escape. But music feels... maybe escape is the wrong word because it's very intentional. It's not that I’m trying to get somewhere else, I'm more trying to ground myself.”

Born and raised in London, before moving to Kent and back again, Black began his musical journey as a jazz drummer and guitarist, playing with the Kent Youth Jazz Orchestra and National Youth Jazz Collective. “I've been playing live for a very long time, since I was probably about 13, or younger. It's, like, my happy place. I love being on stage, that sounds wanky, but I really enjoy that interaction with people, playing off ofeach other. You learn a lot about writing, and the songs that you're writing, when you play them live. Not just from the reaction of people, but from how they feel coming out, how they feel in that conversational state between you and the audience.”

Black later became a founding member of alt funk band Big Teeth. Always writing music, he never saw himself as a singer until making it into the year-long Roundhouse Music Collective programme. “I put together a version of ‘The Winner Takes It All’. I sang it, and I wrote a little jazz guitar prelude to it, and I did it in the audition. I performed it at The Troubadour last year. I think ABBA are the greatest songwriters of all time.”Aside from the Scandi superstars, musical inspirations stretch far and wide. From Wu-Lu and the punk rap of Ho99o9, to Tex Williams and the bluegrass of Billy Strings. Rufus Wainwright, Labi Siffre, Luiz Bonfá and Paul Simon: “The way that he uses rhythm, he starts every song just him and a guitar, and that's how I tend to write as well. I love the way his songs realise themselves. Also, a lot of Brazilian influence in his music.”

To celebrate “demeter”, Black has curated an evening of art and music – Shake the Dust Off – at London’s The Art House. He teases more music to come, two country songs on a concept album of new material, titled For Myself and Others. “It’s quite different, a lot more atmospheric. They’re all based on modes of travel.” To top it all off, you can expect a short film accompaniment: the journey of a young man across the south of France, recovering from significant illness “to find normalcy and community.” It’s based on Black’s own experiences with acute pancreatitis, how convalescence can become a source of connection, andseeks to start conversations. “It was really interesting to see how much it affected me, and how much I couldn't talk about it. There was no line of communication I could have that made sense, despite the fact that I had such a great support system.”

“The more I've talked to people about this, the more people have resonated with it, which I've really appreciated. It's not just for recovering from illness, there's so much in the world to recover from at the moment. I just want to make sure that people have a space that they feel like they can reflect, they can talk to themselves, or they can talk to other people. If anyone watches this film or listens to this album and feels inspired to reach out to someone, or to be a bit kinder to themselves, then I think I've done my job.”