Gen Z hates proper title capitalization etiquette and G-d bless ’em for it. FOR THE FIRST TIME I’m writing a review in the same year that the album came actually dropped (see what I did there? How very symbolic and poetic). I genuinely hope and strive to do this way more often, but considering my tendency to be terrified to make any personal opinions about any act that hasn’t been around for the last 57 years AND my tendency to review a band’s body of work in chronological order, I question the longevity of my endeavors.

Black Country, New Road is a collective of SEVEN young men and women based out of London. Every picture of the band looks like something pulled from one of their Facebook profiles: just a group of rather unassuming, normal, slightly nerdy kids fresh out of college. Luke Mark on guitar, Tyler Hyde on bass, May Kershaw on keyboards, Charlie Wayne on drums, Lewis Evans on sax, Georgia Ellery on violin, and, let’s give him a hand, Isaac Wood on vocals. The whole band (except Luke Mark) were originally part of an eight-piece called Nervous Conditions, but some guy in the band named Connor Browne was being repeatedly rapey so everyone distanced themselves from him and the original outfit. Hence the name “Black Country, New Road”, a phrase which, according to Wood, symbolizes the new beginnings borne from old unpleasantness.

So what do these losers sound like? They sound like an early ’90s post-hardcore throwback (i.e. Slint, Unwound, Shellac) with 30 more years of improved production equipment technology. They sound like an Eastern European klezmer punk party (Gogol Bordello). Isaac Wood’s shaky baritone and abstruse-yet-grounded lyricism makes him sound like a philosophical and musical poet laureate of his generation (Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave). And yet, they sound like Black Country, New Road, an aspiring young rock band pushing the boundaries of what the current flavor of post-punk is supposed to sound like here in the new decade. And I’m welcoming them with open arms.

More than anything else I’ve seen the Slint comparisons. They are an obvious influence, BCNR even namedrop Slint in “Science Fair” (“And fled from the stage with the world’s second-best Slint tribute act”). I guess I need to give Slint another try, because what I’ve heard from Slint isn’t nearly as thrilling or dynamic as For the first time. Blasphemy, I know. Slint’s Spiderland is a sacred cow in the world of post-rock / math rock / indie rock / popular music in general, and I’m sure these newbies can’t really hold a candle to what Slint accomplished back in the day, but I’m guessing I’m getting out of BCNR’s debut exactly what dyed-in-the-wool Slint fans get out of Spiderland: thrilling suspense and moments of catharsis. All the best albums in the world expertly play a game of push and pull with dynamics, moods, high points and low points, volume, tension and release, all that fun musical stuff that all the old great composers wrote into their symphonies and concertos hundreds of years ago. I’m not saying that BCNR are classical geniuses! But they do know how to thrill the listener with suspense.

Take the aforementioned “Science Fair” as a perfect example. It starts with an unassuming and repetitive drum/hi-hat beat and then BAM! we get hit with a crunchy, abrasive no wave guitar solo. Soon, Wood starts narrating his devastating science fair experience with the cold, detached focus of a man resurfacing repressed memories, barely able to keep his composure as he slowly increases the intensity…and that fucking drum and hi-hat never stop. After another no wave guitar solo (this time dogfighting with the aggressive sax), the keyboards begin to accompany the drums on this ever-moving sinister train ride to destruction. It’s impossible to describe just how effectively the band unfolds this audio drama over the course of six minutes, just every note and phrase properly placed to constantly raise the tension. I get all tingly every time I listen to it, ooooh baby. Even if For the first time doesn’t end up being my album of the year, I can’t imagine anything else jumping “Science Fair” as my top track.

But each and every one of these six tracks has something exciting to offer to the listener. The thread of the whole album has a very theatrical feel; there’s a beginning, middle, and end, a dramatic and expressive narrative, all the ups and downs of a good story. “Instrumental”, aptly named, is a vibrant and jagged display of each member of the band’s musicianship, and a real kickass way to start the album. “Opus”, the closer, is a similar display and serves as a satisfying denouement to the whole production. Everyone’s got chops with Eastern European and Middle Eastern jazz traditions on both tracks, something you don’t hear much in this brand of experimental rock. “Track X”, the penultimate, sounds like a restrained, but emotionally earnest, avantgarde rock-in-opposition piece from the likes of Fred Frith or Art Zoyd.

“Sunglasses” is another beast altogether. It’s divided into two parts: the instrumentally serene first half with Wood bitterly setting the scene and slowly ramping up to a frenzied wail, then the instrumentally harsh second half, with Wood angrily pushing back against his personal identity, his role within his own suffocating and mundane upper middle class existence, and all the implications therein. The sunglasses themselves represent the wishful thinking of becoming someone else, someone better perhaps, an unmeetable ideal. Pretty heavy stuff.

So, yeah, the lyrics themselves. This is the only area where I can find something to criticize, because while Wood’s vocal performance superbly compliments the music, the lyrics could’ve used a few more rewrites. I love some of them, I think the abstractly metaphorical stuff (“I lose myself in the light of the TV, courtesy of her father/She buys everything that glows gold in the kitchen larder“) goes very well juxtaposed with the literal and descriptive slice-of-life stuff (“Mother is juicing watermelons on the breakfast island/And with frail hands she grips the NutriBullet“). In other cases, they’re compelled to namedrop (“Leave Kanye out of this!“) and obscurely meta-reference (“Dancing to Jerskin, I got down on my knees/I told you I loved you, in front of black midi“) to an obnoxious degree. It’s going to date the material, and when when the band starts aging past their late-teens/early-20s or however old they are, I expect they’ll cringe listening back to this early stuff.

Nevertheless, I’m incredibly impressed! So impressed I found it hard to pepper my writing with as much snarky insincerity as I usually do! It’s been a long time since I’ve been this gung-ho about a debut album, and I’m glad Black Country, New Road was able to leave me invigorated and looking forward to much, much more. I remain cautiously optimistic that the band will be able to progress and mature into something even more incredible.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention “Athens, France”. That’s a good track too!