Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
BY ZACHARY MARSHALL
The Concorde airliner was a multinational attempt to introduce a supersonic airliner. This supersonic plane cut the travel time from New York to London in half. Three decades later, the Concorde airliner was discontinued in 2003 over financial and sustainability issues. The album cover of Ants From Up There from Black Country, New Road finds a Concorde airliner in a sealable bag.
Black Country, New Road’s Ants from Up There is the follow-up to their highly anticipated debut album, For the first time. This debut propelled the British experimental rock outfit to notoriety as a new underground band to watch only a year ago. A week before their sophomore release, lead singer Christian Wood announced his departure from the band. Ants From Up There pulled no punches and served as a triumphant finale for Wood.
Wood leaving Black Country, New Road left many fans–including myself–wondering how the band would operate moving forward. The rest of the band members assured fans that this was not the end of their band, but a new turning point for their music. Ants From Up There solidifies the band's prospective value. There are familiar influences such as post-punk, experimental rock and bits of Klezmer (Eastern European Jewish music). The band also experimented with more instruments such as horns, synths and violins on this album. All seven members brought something crucial to the table that made this album whole. The outlook for Black Country, New Road remains promising.
I find the album most enjoyable when listening from start to finish. Every song on the album immerses the listener in a soundscape. Most of the songs extend the six-minute mark. Take the third song on the album, “Concord.” It starts with a guitar chord and Wood’s voice. Slowly a new instrument makes an appearance. Saxophones, pianos and violins all slowly pile up into a dizzying peak. “Concord” reaches an emphatic finale that I believe is a proper goodbye letter from Wood: “Isaac will suffer// Concord will fly.”
Despite such forceful moments and the overall serious tone of the album, there are glimpses of light in Ants From Up There. Hearing Christian Wood gush over Billie Eilish in “Good Will Hunting” is a stand out moment that’s a bit humorous in itself.
We had it…we had the foundation for supersonic airline flights and left it in the past. I believe that is how Christian Wood feels about his departure. So much could have been done, so much more to do. Ants From Up There sounds like the classic adage: right place, wrong time. To let go of something you care for is a heartbreaking task. I can imagine Wood shared similar sentiments leaving his band.