Look at these dorks. They look like kids in the marching band. They look like science majors. This was one of the first things that endeared me to Black Country, New Road: they look like regular, unassuming, young people. There’s never anything too flashy or overly artistic about their official band photos; they always look like friends hanging out in a park, or on a college campus, or in front a stage. Sometimes a couple of them are hugging, or a few have arms around someone else’s shoulders. They’re almost always smiling, not goofing off too hard or joking around or trying to look cool. The above photo looks like it was taken at grandma’s house. I find this simply wonderful.

Black Country, New Road is an ensemble cast of musicians from Cambridgeshire, England. The group formed a new band in 2018 after their old band splintered following a toxic band member’s history of sexual misconduct, and no one wanted to be associated with that asshole anymore. Isaac Wood (guitars/vocals), until February 2022, was their reluctant, fan-appointed frontman. He’s gone now! Mental health issues are a bitch. The remaining six members are continuing; they are Tyler Hyde on bass, Luke Mark on guitar, May Kershaw on keyboards + mallet percussion, Charlie Wayne on drums, Lewis Evans on saxophone + various other wind instruments, and Georgia Ellery on violin/mandolin/cello. They all agreed to split vocal duties following Wood’s departure, so now they have to get their chops up to speed.

As of this writing, they have two fantastic records under their belt. Now that Wood is gone, the band’s reinvention is simultaneously optimistic and unpredictable. Time will tell.

Black Country, New Road’s Bandcamp Page

JUMP TO:
(2021) For the first time
(2022) Ants from Up There

For the first time (2021) – Rating: 10/10
Click Here for the Full Album Review

The more I listen to this album, the more steadfast I remain in my position that it’s a modern masterpiece. I say that without hyperbole. Do you see that 10/10 up there? I ain’t foolin’ around.

I’ve already said quite a bit about For the first time, but an extra year of constant listening under my belt has allowed me to appreciate every nuance, every new element discovered each time I spin the record, and every member’s contribution to the project. From the bombastic klezmer “Instrumental” opener to the bombastic klezmer closer “Opus”, there’s almost nothing I can criticize…save for some of the slightly immature lyrics and namedropping, but it’s not enough for me to bring the score down. The music is too damn good.

At forty minutes with six tracks, the album’s structure is obviously a direct homage to Slint’s Spiderland, with the musical tension also comparable. However, Black Country, New Road has their own voice here. Between Isaac’s trembling baritone stream of consciousness ramblings and the post-rock progressions, this is definitely not the Steve Albini-style vocals and guitar-forward angularity of Slint’s effort. I will say this: BCNR are likely the first band since Slint to display mastery of the art of cathartic release.  I can’t think of many other bands in the last 30 years on the same level.

Isaac Wood brings most of the personality to the record, but the undisputed unsung hero of For the first time is Charlie Wayne on the drums. He knows when to maintain restraint (the constant, robotic cadence throughout “Science Fair”), he knows when to surprise the ear with elaborate drum fills (the whole “Instrumental” opener), and he knows when to hit that hi-hat pedal at the perfect moments (countless examples, but I like the ones on “Sunglasses”). Not to say that anyone else in the band is a slouch, but keep your eye (and ear) on Charlie Wayne. That kid is going places!

For my money, “Science Fair” and “Sunglasses” are perfect songs, from beginning to end. The former slowly builds tension the entire time. For six straight minutes! The progression of this track reminds me of the Swans krautrock exercises on their more recent albums like The Seer or To Be Kind. Chugging guitar, two passages of free jazz guitar/saxophone freak outs, immaculate crescendos, ominous keyboard loops, and a lot of Isaac Wood’s pained yelling. The best part is that the subject matter of the song is (from a big picture perspective) completely mundane and low-stakes. Just a pathetic, insecure, white guy point of view. But to be able to project the narrator’s real-time mental collapse about sometime mundane with such palpable, scary restlessness is genius. Genius! GENIUS!

Then “Sunglasses” is a just a beautiful piece of art during its entire 9:50 runtime. You get the first half, the slow fuzzed-guitar breakdown and pastoral post-rock whimsy as Wood contemplates his place in his family’s dynamic — in society, really. Then you get the second half, which weaves Wood’s untethered insecurities through the most catchy, atonal, ugly catharsis you’ll hear in your lifetime. Let’s not forget the album’s best line: “LEAVE KANYE OUT OF THIS!”

With a debut like this out the gate, with such a varied range of tones and emotions, it was impossible to know what was to come next. And that made the wait all the better.

Ants from Up There (2022) – Rating: 8/10
No Full Album Review Yet

Don’t me wrong, an 8/10 is wonderful! An 8/10 is something to strive for! An 8/10 is nothing to sneeze at! And, in my gut, Ants from Up There is a solid 8/10!

I’ll cop to it. I had hyped myself up so hard for the second album that I think I was destined to be disappointed. HOWEVER, don’t let my personal tastes get in the way! This album is great! You’ll probably like it better than the debut, and that’s ok. I don’t, and that’s ok too. Two main reasons for my opinion: 1) there are very little, if any, moments of the kind of ugly catharsis that gives me that “oh wow” reaction, and 2) there’s a lot of filler.

Let’s start with the first point! Free jazz build-ups like the bridge in “Science Fair”? Sardonic, even mocking, saxophone responses in “Sunglasses”? Not here. All the catharsis is pretty. That first time the band revs up in “Chaos Space Marine”, with the fluttery flutes and Wood’s peak vocals (“So I’m leaving this body/And I’m never coming home again, yeah…“), the whole reason that the band has now been compared to Arcade Fire, is probably the best moment in the entirety of Ants from Up There. Those surprising, dynamic upper-register sax and piano phrases in “Haldern”? Absolutely exquisite! The last two slippery minutes of “Bread Song”;  the pathetically crushing romanticism of “Concorde” conveyed in one flawlessly delivered line: “I was made to love you/Can’t you tell?“; the final crashing denouement of “Basketball Shoes”. Hell, the entire seven minutes of “The Place Where He Inserted the Blade”, an ode to the vulnerability of a new relationship with a lot of baggage attached, is breathtaking. The instruments are woven together with the kind of positive energy that paints an immaculate, picturesque, sunny day. The vocal performances from Wood are emotive and run an impossibly genuine, wide range of feelings. From top down, this song is the album’s peak! …but, while this cherubic indie rock with a somber, almost sinister side is perfect on paper, I can only find myself admiring it from an analytical point of view. It just doesn’t hit me in that sweet spot.

The second reason for my slight disappointment? Filler. This album is almost twenty minutes longer than For the first time and it shows. Not bereft of musical ideas by a long shot, but many tracks meander or feel tacked on (I’m looking at you “Mark’s Theme), showcasing lulls that just weren’t present in the debut. The first album didn’t waste a minute; the second album is not as innocent. “Concorde” is a lovely song, but you can trim almost two minutes. “Good Will Hunting” is a middle-of-the-road offering, and while I like the cool buzzing synth imagery of, perhaps, the burning starship traversing the Milky Way, and the humor in the “Billie Eilish-style” refrain, nothing else stands out as particularly notable. “Snow Globes” is entirely disposable, I’m sorry. Even that intro track feels weak and pointless, like it was hastily recorded at the end of their sessions to get something to lead into “Chaos Space Marine”.

The positives overwhelmingly outweigh the negatives. I don’t think Isaac Wood peaked at all with this release, not even close. He had the potential to single-handedly define an entire generation of young musicians with his one-of-a-kind poetry and unmatched vocal performance. But, that’s not the path he wanted for himself. I hear he works in a cake shop now, keeping it real, working on maintaining a healthy mental wellbeing, and the world doesn’t need him to tough it out in the music business just to entertain dumbasses like me. I wish him the best.