Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There
(Ninja Tune)
Reviewed by Sam Smith.
After delivering one of the best albums of last year in the form of ‘For the First Time’, Cambridgeshire post-punk group Black Country, New Road surprised everyone with an immediate follow-up album ‘Ants From Up There’ in what turned out to be a musical step forward for the band.
Written and recorded during covid lockdowns, ‘Ants From Up There’ sees Black Country, New Road expand their musical palette, so to speak, incorporating different styles not necessarily seen on their last record.
The introduction of chamber pop is the most notable difference; think Arcade Fire, with songs such as ‘Chaos Space Machine’ featuring violin flourishes underneath a stomping Isaac Woods vocal who still manages to channel his best Jarvis Cocker impersonation.
Folk rock is another new stylistic edition with tracks like ‘Concorde’ conjuring up a sort of Fairport Convention feel with arpeggio electric guitars harmonising in unison.
There is still time for experimentation, though, something which was a strong feature of their first album.
‘Good Will Hunting’ opens with sci-fi synths, and in terms of song structure fluctuates tempo-wise throughout the song’s five minutes, while the nine-minute proggy nature of ‘Snow Glove’ allows Woods to weave his vocals in and out of what at times is quite intense instrumentation.
Album highlights include the pulsating ballad ‘The Place Where He Inserted the Blade’, while die-hard fans have been raving about album closer ‘Basketball Shoes’, a twelve-minute epic of which videos of the band performing have been doing the rounds for a while, wetting people’s appetites for the album version.
Although a great album and a fantastic follow up to ‘For The First Time’, uncertainty now surrounds the future of the group. Vocalist and chief songwriter Isaac Woods announced he was leaving the group just before the release, leading to speculation this could be it for the band.
The band say they intend to continue. However, Wood’s absence will definitely be missed as he so often is the centrepiece of the songs with his unique deadpan vocals and intricate songwriting, one of the main reasons for Black Country, New Road’s success.
If ‘Ants From Up There’ is Black Country, New Road’s final album, then what a way to go out on. This is a record like no other and an album that completes a set of two albums that helped bring post-punk back to prominence and into people’s attention spans again after years in the wilderness.
That in itself is enough of a legacy for one of the most unique bands of recent times.
If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by visiting our PressPatron page.