1. ANTS FROM UP THERE - Black Country, New Road

I dipped my toe in this album when it first came out in 2022, but it didn’t really speak to me - I don’t remember making it through more than the first two songs. However a friend recently hailed it as a life-changing listen when you work through it front to back in one sitting. High praise indeed, so I gave it another go and wasn’t disappointed. It’s completely unique, theatrical and heartbreaking, and masterful in its worldbuilding. I could talk about this album for hours - after several more full listens, some while watching the lyrics on Spotify like a movie, I still don’t feel like I’ve got to the bottom of the enormity of its imagery and meaning. Comprised of seven musicians who play instruments that range from saxophones to guitars to violins to banjos, there is a soaring freedom and sense of improvisation to the band’s instrumentation. Simple, repeated melody motifs give an almost childlike dynamic to the songs, a playful and delicate entry point into the massive atmospheric crescendo in each song’s arc. I imagine I sound quite gushy… surely it can’t be that good? It is.

Lead vocalist at the time Isaac Wood balances deeply profound sentiments within light hearted, tongue in cheek imagery - lyrics like ‘So clean your soup maker and breathe in, your chicken, broccoli and everything’ are sung with the delivery of one declaring their soul’s deepest torture. Wood is able to be witty and piercing; within one song, Concorde, his lyrics include lines such as ‘Cause darling, I’m starving myself and I heard you’re on Atkins as well’ alongside ‘We’d share the same sky, and then Isaac will suffer, Concorde will fly’, as well as ‘I was made to love you, can’t you tell? The album feels timeless and other-worldly, while still including modern cultural references like ‘She had Billie Eilish style’. Wood’s singing is expressive, full of tremors of emotion that gives the whole album a live feel.

The first time I listened to the final two songs, both mammoth in the scale of their instrumentation and each spanning over ten minutes, the emotions it brought up in me were so strong it felt like I couldn’t get air into my lungs. The lyrics are ambiguous enough that it is not even really clear what the songs are about, and so in turn I couldn’t name what feelings had been evoked; all I knew was that the world they built in this album moved me deeply, to say the least.  

To make this whole musical experience even more crushing, Isaac Wood announced his departure from the band four days before it was release on 4th February 2022, citing struggles with his mental health. Their imminent tour was cancelled as a result. This comes after their original lineup dissolved years before, after allegations of sexual assault against the past lead singer. Wood, previously the band’s guitarist, took over as vocalist. With this context, the themes of loss, endings and beginnings, love and self discovery take on a new meaning. In an album that speaks frequently of the end of relationships, one has to wonder who Isaac was really saying goodbye to - perhaps he knew this album would serve as the finale to his time with Black Country, New Road as he wrote lyrics like ‘...Praise the Lord, burn my house… You come home and hold me tight, as if it never happened at all… good morning’.

The rest of the band march forward, agreeing not to play any of their first two albums live out of respect for Wood, but leaving the door open to him should he wish to return. Later this year they will support Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on their UK tour. They have had to, quite literally, begin a New Road.

Best song: Snow Globes

Best listened to when: I enjoyed this album while lying on my bedroom floor staring at the ceiling, and a couple of times on solo train journeys. Anywhere you don’t mind having a little existential crisis.

You’ll like it if you like: Wunderhorse, Squid, shame, LCD Soundsystem, MJ Lenderman, Arcade Fire.