Black Country, New Road – Forever Howlong (Ninja Tune)
British band Black Country, New Road are a fairly recent phenomena, formed in Cambridge by a group of classically trained students in 2019 who released two albums before band leader/frontman and guitarist Isaac Wood abruptly departed four days before the release of their sophomore effort Ants From Up There.
Up to this point they had been creating an edgy, eclectic post-punk, and post-folk rock and avoiding the enticement of undemanding and foppish melodies. Suddenly the rest of the band had to abandon tours and create a whole new set and sound apart from the input and influences of Wood.
Forever Howlong is that effort, a new beginning, a new band, or renewal? They could’ve taken the similar path that Joy Division took when they lost Ian Curtis’ input, they foresaw flux, and a name change was made.
Listening to Forever Howlong, I found myself hearing mostly incomplete or less angular compositions. Comparisons to Joanna Newsom and Fiona Apple jumped to mind, in unequal measures. Many of the songs lack purpose, and direction while the edgy crescendos that were a feature of their two past efforts are almost entirely absent.
I see Forever Howlong as a signpost of autarky for the abandoned, estranged from their past, the consanguinity has been incised. If you approach Forever Howlong from this perspective, if you are unenlightened by their past, then there is a possibility of entrapment by songs such as Goodbye, Salem Sisters and Two Horses. These three are brimming with somnolent melodies, draped over conventional structures, and irreverently romantic.
Forever Howlong may see/be Black Country, New Road breaking free of their past, but as always, there will be a, is a, cost.
Simon Coffey
Forever Howlong is out now on Ninja Tune
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