Black Country, New Road have shared a new single titled Snow Globes, the fourth track lifted from their highly anticipated second album, ‘Ants From Up There’. The new LP is out on February 4th via Ninja Tune.
Having resonated heavily with fans since it’s live debut in 2020, Snow Globes marks one the album’s most powerful moments. The track sees the band shift between delicacy and enormity, finding them at their most potent and arresting. Frontman Isaac Wood’s vocals carefully swing between quiet restraint and stirring zest, whilst accompanied by some of the band’s most orchestral instrumentation to date, alongside drums that develop from gentle timpani-esque ruminations into a passionate cacophony before giving way to the track’s tender and pensive refrain.
Speaking on the single, drummer Charlie Wayne says: “Snow Globes was one of the songs which had existed before we wrote the majority of the songs on AFUT. Though it’s a pretty good representation of the musical world we wanted to explore on the album at large. Rather than writing a song with a number of distinct sections we wanted to see what we could do with one continuous riff. It was a real exploration in trying to create something maximalist whilst limiting ourselves with minimal musical choices.
Because the melodic instruments are all playing the riff in unison, Snow Globes left the drums with an interesting opportunity. The drums don’t sit separately from the rest of the band on Snow Globes, but we wanted to use them in a way that we hadn’t in the past. The initial idea was to feel like the drums were recorded for a completely separate track. They were meant to be totally arrhythmic and just sort of bubble below the surface – like at the end of White Ferrari. As the song progressed the drums still occupy a slightly different sound world, but because the rest of the band is playing in such a syncopated style, the drums were given a space to disregard rhythm and be completely expressive.” Listen to Snow Globes via YouTube below.
Black Country, New Road’s debut ‘For the first time’ is a certain 2021 Album of the Year, having received ecstatic reviews from critics and fans alike as well as being shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. Released in February to extensive, global, critical support – perhaps best summed up by The Times who wrote in their 5/5 review that they were “the most exciting band of 2021” and The Observer who called their record “one of the best albums of the year” – the album made a significant dent on the UK Albums Chart where it landed at #4 in its first week, a remarkable achievement for a largely experimental debut record. The album also reached #1 on Any Decent Music, #2 at Album Of The Year and sat at #1 on Rate Your Music for several weeks, remaining the record to generate the most fan reviews and site discussion there this year. Black Country, New Road were also declared Artist Of The Week and Album Of The Week by The Observer, The Line Of Best Fit and Stereogum, and saw features, including covers and reviews, from the likes of Mojo, NPR, CRACK, Uncut, The Quietus, Pitchfork, The FADER, Loud & Quiet, The Face, Paste, The Needle Drop, DIY, NME, CLASH, So Young, Dork and more.
Their latest single, Snow Globes, comes on the heels of the recent announcement of the band’s (Lewis Evans, May Kershaw, Charlie Wayne, Luke Mark, Isaac Wood, Tyler Hyde and Georgia Ellery) new album, which is set to land almost exactly a year to the day from the release of their debut. The band have harnessed the momentum from that record and run full pelt into their second, with ‘Ants From Up There’ managing to strike a skilful balance between feeling like a bold stylistic overhaul of what came before, as well as a natural progression.
At the start of the year, the band also released a video for their most recent single Concorde which was directed by Maxim Kelly and saw the band collaborate heavily with independent production company Caviar. This was the first video of it’s kind from the band with sci-fi b-movie themes and featuring a number of surprises.
Concorde preceded the band’s highly emotive, stripped back single, Bread Song, which has been a live favourite amongst fans since it’s reveal earlier this year, and has since gone on to earn wide acclaim across a number of publications, including the likes of The Needle Drop, who says band is “really shaping up to be one of the most interesting…contemporary bands out there right now.
The band also previously accompanied the announcement of their new album with the infectiously chaotic yet coherent single Chaos Space Marine, which received a huge reaction from fans and media alike, with publications such as NPR describing it as “a thrilling transcontinental epic,” and the Times calling them “one of the most exciting and unusual new bands in Britain,” as well as many more.
With ‘For the first time,’ the band melded klezmer, post-rock, indie and an often intense spoken word delivery. On ‘Ants From Up There’, they have expanded on this unique concoction to create a singular sonic middle ground that traverses classical minimalism, indie-folk, pop, alt rock and a distinct tone that is already unique to the band.
Recorded at Chale Abbey Studios, Isle Of Wight, across the summer with the band’s long-term live engineer Sergio Maschetzko, it’s also an album that comes loaded with a deep-rooted conviction in the end result. “We were just so hyped the whole time,” says Hyde. “It was such a pleasure to make. I’ve kind of accepted that this might be the best thing that I’m ever part of for the rest of my life. And that’s fine.”
‘Ants From Up There’ will be available on Deluxe 4LP box set*, Collector’s edition bronze 2LP [d2c only], Limited edition blue 2LP, Standard black 2LP, Deluxe 2CD*, Standard CD, Cassette and Digital formats.
*Black Country, New Road Live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, mastered by Christian Wright at Abbey Road, will be available as part of the Deluxe LP and 2CD versions of ‘Ants From Up There’.
Pre-order the album here
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