Black Country, New Road share new single "Concorde"
Black Country, New Road have just announced “Concorde”, the third single to be taken from their highly anticipated second album, “Ants From Up There”, which will be released on 4th February on Ninja Tune.
“Concorde” swings from one of the most tender moments on the new album - opening with gentle drums, twisting guitar lines and frontman Isaac Wood’s almost whisper-soft delivery - into one of its most joyous and eruptive. It continues to signal the musical evolution of the band’s new material, capturing them exploring a vast range of dynamics as they harness the power of tension and release, exercising potency in not only the explosive crescendo but also the restrained build up.
LISTEN TO “CONCORDE” HERE
The single also follows on from the announcement of new UK & IE dates in support of the album for April 2022, which will be preceded by their biggest London headliner to date at The Roundhouse in February.
They will play the following dates:
08/02/2022 - Roundhouse, London - UK
06/04/2022 - The Foundry, Sheffield - UK
07/04/2022 - O₂ Academy, Oxford - UK
09/04/2022 - Liquid Room, Edinburgh - UK
10/04/2022 - The Empire, Belfast - UK
11/04/2022 - Olympia, Dublin - IE
13/04/2022 - Albert Hall, Manchester - UK
14/04/2022 - Rock City, Nottingham - UK
16/04/2022 - Concorde 2, Brighton - UK
17/04/2022 - O₂ Academy, Bristol – UK
Tickets are available HERE
Black Country, New Road's live performances have already gained legendary status from fans and have seen them labelled "one of the UK's best live bands" by The Guardian. After the success of their livestream direct from London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, stand-out performances at SXSW and the BBC 6 Music Festival, and following a sold-out UK tour this summer, as well as high-profile festival appearances, the band will also play a string of US headline dates early next year.
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 CD versions of "Ants From Up There".
A full list of live dates and tickets are available HERE
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.
The new single, “Concorde”, 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.
The new track follows 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.
*Deluxe 4LP and 2CD versions feature ‘‘Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall" album.
Pre-order the album HERE
Album art
Black Country, New Road
Ants From Up There
Out February 4th on Ninja Tune
Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. Chaos Space Marine
3. Concorde
4. Bread Song
5. Good Will Hunting
6. Haldern
7. Mark’s Theme
8. The Place Where He Inserted the Blade
9. Snow Globes
10. Basketball Shoes
Live From The Queen Elizabeth Hall
Tracklisting:
1. Mark’s Theme (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
2. Instrumental (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
3. Athens, France (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
4. Science Fair (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
5. Sunglasses (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
6. Track X (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
7. Opus (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
8. Bread Song (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
9. Basketball Shoes (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
Black Country, New Road are:
May Kershaw - Keys
Charlie Wayne - Drums
Luke Mark - Guitar
Isaac Wood - Vocals/Guitar
Tyler Hyde - Bass
Lewis Evans - Sax
Georgia Ellery – Violin
BC,NR online:
Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | Spotify | Apple | Soundcloud | YouTube | Bandcamp
Selected praise for "For the first time":
“One of the best albums of 2021” - The Observer (5/5)
“Stunning” - The Sunday Times
"The most exciting new band of 2021" - The Times (5/5)
“Has the veneer of masterpiece about it.” - Loud & Quiet (10/10)
"a triumph" - NME (5/5)
"the album packs in a career’s worth of ideas and suggests this band could go on to become something even more special." - London Evening Standard (5/5)
"a significant milestone in modern guitar music." - CLASH (9/10)
"For The First Time is ferocious and endlessly intelligent, highly considered and wildly improvised, eked out with bristling tension and set alight with a burning intensity and a knowing smile" - The Line Of Best Fit (9/10)
#9 Albums Of The Year - Uncut
"You'll be hard pushed to find a more adventurously self-assured debut this year" - Uncut (9/10)
#14 Albums Of The Year - MOJO
"Exploratory British alt-rock debut to get excited about" - MOJO (4/5)
"“This mind-bending musical odyssey is one to savour” - The i (4/5)
"Black Country, New Road’s first full-length statement becomes a thing wholly unto themselves, a document of restless creativity and incisive minds processing an era of too much mediation and stimulation."
- Stereogum (Album of the Week)
"true storytellers who have captured the passion and intensity of our cynical times." - Gigwise (8/10)
"Black Country, New Road might be the perfect band." - The Quietus
“If the world needs saving, maybe they’re the band to do it” - The FADER
"Together, they have carved out a niche with expansive compositions that take the mood of post-punk and rough it up with grinding guitars, cinematic flourishes, klezmer breakdowns and a kind of sweeping, desperate romanticism." - CRACK
"a frenetic, fireball of their caustic, maniacal post-punk meets acid-jazz cacophony that makes the young outfit stand alongside the very best"
- So Young
"Anxiously excellent" - The FACE
"On the cusp of a debut that comes good on all the obtuse, esoteric groundwork they’ve spent the past two years laying” - DIY
“It is razor sharp as you might imagine, darkly comic, completely impossible to box, and I love it for all those reasons" - Mary Anne Hobbs
"Just loving how gargantuan and risky this is, really fucking with this, really messing with it" - Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop)