Four years ago, BCNR released ‘Ants From Up There’ to critical acclaim. Angsty and intense, it became a cult favourite for many, containing emotional hitters like ‘The Place Where He Inserted The Blade’ and ‘Basketball Shoes’, both incredible, but nevertheless absolutely pulverizing. Isaac Wood, who with hindsight carried much of the creative direction, has since left the band, resulting in a clear transformation.
Who are Black Country, New Road?
Four years ago, BCNR released ‘Ants From Up There’ to critical acclaim. Angsty and intense, it became a cult favourite for many, containing emotional hitters like ‘The Place Where He Inserted The Blade’ and ‘Basketball Shoes’, both incredible, but nevertheless absolutely pulverizing. Isaac Wood, who with hindsight carried much of the creative direction, has since left the band, resulting in a clear transformation.
Today, BCNR are sonically transformed. 2023’s underrated ‘Live at Bush Hall’ started their collective reinvention and last year’s ‘Forever Howlong’ indicated a baroque rebirth of femininity; theatrical arrangements bursting with vivid storytelling and playful charm. Avoiding a clear centerpiece, vocal duties are shared across Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery, and May Kershaw, while instrumental commitments are fluid: Atish and I were treated to a musical-chairs-esque rotation of musicians swapping instruments and positions on stage all night, each as talented as the other.
The Show
Charlie Wayne, the band’s drummer (who I am 95% sure I saw at graduation in Bath the other week!) sheepishly spoke at the start of the show: “It is amazing to play such a… decadent… venue”. Tyler Hyde then spoke more earnestly, describing the chance to play Somerset House as “once in a lifetime”. Their words spoke through the verve of their performances, which opened with a cover – ‘Band on the Run’ by Wings; tone-setting and immediately joyous.
My favourite from the opening section of the show was ‘Two Horses’. Georgia Ellery, also a member of the eclectic-electric-amazing duo Jockstrap (who delivered one of the best gigs I have ever attended), sets a vivid Western-style scene where the instrumentation swells and quickens as she tells a story of love and betrayal, culminating in the murder of her two horses.
Following on, ‘For the Cold Country’, my favourite single from the album, is led by May Kershaw. I feel she tends to drive the most emotionally poignant songs BCNR creates these days, but this song concludes with the most intense minute or so on the album – the violin builds and then drops away into a staccato rhythm, punctuated with heavy drum strikes and dramatic saxophone that accompanies the vocals.
‘Besties’ opens the album and is probably the most triumphantly happy song they have ever made. Driven by plucky harpsichord, it speaks friendship, laughter, honesty, and joy through companionship. This performance was just lovely – the crowd bobbed along, groups of friends enjoying the moment.
All together, it was a real pleasure to attend, but unfortunately, this is likely to be my final involvement with URB and BathTime. This little column has ended up with ten articles, written by six contributors. Coordinating this, going on the Dig, creating the visual style, thinking up the different types of articles was all such fun, and enjoying great socials with even greater people was even better.
Groundwork hopefully won’t be dying with me! It now rests with ‘the Dig’ host and URB ever-present Toby, whose contact details you can find below. If you’re interested in keeping this going – conducting Field Reports, drawing up Blueprints, and whatever else this might become – then please do let him know!
Thank you for reading! We hope you’ll be listening to ‘the Dig’, running 21:00-23:00 every Thursday when the next year rolls around. If you would like to write for Groundwork, please reach out to Toby at tg867@bath.ac.uk!