{"id":61465,"date":"2022-02-07T11:01:40","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T16:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/?post_type=records&p=61465"},"modified":"2022-02-07T12:23:08","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T17:23:08","slug":"61465","status":"publish","type":"records","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/records\/61465\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I never understood the immediate admiration with Black Country, New Road on their debut LP For The First Time<\/em>. The album, with its baroque indie rock and post punk-horn vigour was good, but I felt it didn\u2019t deserve the praise of being created by \u201cthe best band in the world,\u201d as said by The Quietus. The band is full of wonderfully talented musicians and did deserve some acclaim for its interesting sound, but sometimes sounded like many other bands dipping their toes in the same genres. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the newest album, Ants From Up There<\/em>, pushes Black Country, New Road in a new, organic direction and sounds like nothing out right now. This band loves weird time signatures, monotone\/passionate vocals, and giving single instruments their own room to breathe. The atmosphere the band creates is palpable and sometimes feels like a movement in an operatic play rather than an album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stabbing saxophone, whirling piano, staccato violins, and low-humming distorted guitar and bass, polyrhythmic drums, on paper it seems like too much, but it really works for Black Country, New Road on songs like \u201cChaos Space Marine,\u201d or \u201cConcorde.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a damn shame that lead singer\/guitarist, Isaac Wood, has resigned (for mental health reasons) from playing with Black Country, New Road, because he really shines on this release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, his heartstring vocal style is bewitching on \u201cBread Song,\u201d and it\u2019s hard to imagine every song having the same energy with him gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard not reading into some of the darkened lyrics as a foreshadow of his random departure, but dwelling on that would almost discredit the sheer experimentation on this record. Ants From Up There<\/em> is a group of artists truly sharing a part of themselves on record. It\u2019s a rare entity and nothing like it will ever be made again, so despite Wood\u2019s departure, enjoy it for what it is\u2014a moment in time. 
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