Black Country, New Road is one of the bands to come out of this recent Speedy Wunderground universe of young English rock bands pushing the limits of the form. Like their compatriots in Black Midi, Black Country built up early buzz based on their roiling, shape-shifting live shows. In those early days, there was something mysterious about them, this noise-addled septet with saxophone and violin and unspooling, sometimes seemingly free-associative lyrics. The hype grew upon early singles “Athens, France” and “Sunglasses.” Now, Black Country have announced they’ve signed to Ninja Tune and have a full-length debut on the way. The album is called For The First Time and it will be out in February.
“We wanted it to sound exactly how we love to sound live,” saxophonist Lewis Evans said of the album in a statement. Frontman Isaac Wood added: “This is basically representative of our first 18 months. We see this as being a stop in the road. I’ve always been interested in a really honest portrayal of what a band is and what they’ve been working on. I think it’s really nice if people can see an artist like: This was them in the early days, this was their next phase, and that they’re quite clear and honest about genuine progression as people and musicians.”
For The First Time features six songs, including reinterpretations of “Athens, France” and “Sunglasses.” Along with the announcement, the band have shared another that’s already been a live staple: “Science Fair.” It feels like something of a reintroduction-by-way-of-theme-song, with Wood growing more wild-eyed and yelling “It’s Black Country out there!” repeatedly. Check it out below.
Here’s what director Bart Price had to say about the accompanying video:
When developing the music video for “Science Fair,” I was thinking about fictitious worlds that we visit through our screens, such as the American high school. Despite our lack of direct experience, these worlds become a universal means of communicating about and understanding things like what it means to grow up, or what it means to be in a friendship group, or to be in love. I wanted to create such a world around Black Country, New Road, placing their music at the heart of a small American town, that in a sense we’ve all been to and lived in.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Instrumental”
02 “Athens, France”
03 “Science Fair”
04 “Sunglasses”
05 “Track X”
06 “Opus”
For The First Time is out 2/5 via Ninja Tune.
