Black Country, New Road has undergone a remarkable transformation since their 2021 debut and the departure of frontman Isaac Wood. After exploring a more melodic sound in their last album, the band's latest, Forever Howlong, showcases an evolved identity with folk influences and communal warmth. The live album, Live at Bush Hall, was a rebirth that included jubilant and tender songs, paving the way for their studio debut. This shift distances them from their previous comparison to Slint, marking a new chapter in their musical journey.
Midway through their ambitious 2021 debut, For the First Time, Black Country, New Road jokingly called themselves "the world's second-best Slint tribute act." Between frontman Isaac Wood's agitated sprechgesang and the group's queasy, off-center grooves, the self-inflicted burn made sense-and could have applied to a whole wave of nervy, British post-punk upstarts who talked more than they sang and attracted critical adoration around the turn of the decade.
Since then, things changed fast, even by the mercurial currents of UK rock scenes. Fontaines D.C. rose to arena status. Shame pivoted to a more melodic sound. black midi split. But no peer has transformed more dramatically than BC, NR. Wood stopped muttering and started singing, bringing a stately grandiosity to 2022's Ants From Up There-then departed the group before the album was even released.
If most bands release live albums as a stopgap release (or, less generously, a cash-in), 2023's Live at Bush Hall was something else: a document of a band reborn. Its songs were jubilant ('Up Song'), tender ('Turbines/Pigs'), democratic-and, in a rare move for a band today, without studio equivalents.
Now, three years after Wood's departure, comes the studio debut of this new incarnation. And Slint, frankly, is not one of the first 2,000 reference points that come to mind. Folky and pastoral, with recorder solos and mandolin excursions and proggy journeys-in-song, Forever Howlong is as ambitious as anything this band has done.
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