“What you feel is the hole in your life.“
In 2021, I submitted my first review for the newly formed Boolin Tunes, that being for Black Country, New Road‘s debut. Already having shown development from previous live material, it established the band as arguably the one to watch. The next year, their sophomore album made good on the potential and kept the hype train well on the tracks. However, vocalist Isaac Wood announced his departure within days of its release. An incredibly capable frontman, his presence should not be understated as a critical part of what made these first two releases so captivating.
In 2023, Black Country, New Road dropped the album Live at Bush Hall. Used as a showcase of the post-Wood direction, it deviated significantly from their previous material. Now, on new album Forever Howlong, they push further down this path. Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery, and May Kershaw each take turns as primary vocalists of the new six-piece arrangement. In January, they released the first studio single to demonstrate the new sound.
“Yeah I know what’s expected of me,
Besties night and day.
Remember when I said he shouldn’t treat you that way,
And are you sure?
I know I want something more.“
Perhaps best described as whimsical, especially compared to previous material, “Besties” opens up the album. This motif appears throughout, even intertwined amongst heavier lyrics and themes. The light and airy verses give way to a grand chorus, an overall successful instance of the experiment. To draw a parallel, this song acts as the “Chaos Space Marine” equivalent, though brighter and with more levity. A strong first track to usher in this new era, but the momentum quickly eats itself.
“The Big Spin” is the first sign of trouble. Described as “a partner song” to “Besties”, it pulls largely from the exact same bag of tricks. A bit livelier on the verses, but the build peters out and it goes nowhere in particular. “Socks” suffers a similar fate, making this an unfortunate trend. Playing on your expectations for payoff is certainly a strategy, but when the execution falls flat it feels like time wasted. It stumbles to a close to usher in “Salem Sisters”, which does feature some neat arpeggios and layered vocals. It similarly fails to be more than the sum of its parts. Each of these tracks have solid elements and passages within them, but they shuffle off to the side too quickly to appreciate and ultimately feel pointless.
“Two Horses” might be the most painful example of Forever Howlong getting in its own way. After five minutes of proper progression and great storytelling, it lands somewhere quite interesting. As Georgia Ellory belts out “I watched him kill my horses,” we get about twenty five seconds of everything coming together, and it’s brilliant. Then, in its undoing, it comes to a screeching halt for its final minute. The momentum again lost, it slouches toward “Mary”, and it essentially has to start from scratch.
“Cheer up child,
Your world’s not tearing apart,
Though you broke its heart.
Many people would give an arm and a limb,
To live where you live.“
According the band, next single “Happy Birthday” takes inspiration from… the band themselves. Curious, but at least it comes from the most complete song so far in “Besties”. Similarly, this track seems inclined to take a direction and stick with it. We have another energy-killing moment at the halfway mark, but it comes in time for an actual outro. Better, but still showing those same issues that take away much of the drive.
“I’ll take off my armor,
If you promisе to stay.
Wipe your weeping eye,
Lanterns light the lie.“
“For the Cold Country” does more to beat some of the various allegations raised thus far. May Kershaw turns in her best vocal performance on the record, and the backing rises to meet her. Still suffering from a screeching halt at its middle point, it builds back up well enough to get a crescendo going. At its peaks, it sounds almost euphoric, even in its desperation. It also shows that, with the right setup, this sound can and does work.
Of the final tracks, closer “Goodbye (Don’t Tell Me)” proves the most notable. Georgia Ellery provides tender vocals, backed by clean acoustic guitar. Not overthinking things, the chorus sounds ethereal, the instrumentation rising and falling at the right times. As it falls away to close the album, the wind-down feels natural and fitting to end off with. This track is one of the times they got it right, like a payoff for sticking with the entire thing.
Overall, Forever Howlong has a structural problem, or more accurately many structural problems. A number of tracks get nowhere, and those that get somewhere keep going past that point into oblivion. This issue makes for an incredibly frustrating listening experience as the talent and knowledge demonstratively remains alive. While the departure of Wood surely hurt, his absence is not the sticking point. Instead, in the search for dynamics, they produce a stilted, stop-and-start hurdling event. They are capable of better, and in the best moments, we have that, as unfortunately ephemeral as they may be.
5/10
Black Country, New Road‘s Forever Howlong comes out this Friday, April 4th on Ninja Tune with pre-orders here.