With a musical reset after the sudden departure of frontman Isaac Wood just at the release of their previous studio album, the Cambridge-formed sextet return with a rich, clever mix of whimsical folk, prog, baroque pop and musical theatre with lead vocals now shared between the three female band members Tyler Hyde (bass), Georgia Ellery (violin, who is also half of the duo Jockstrap) and May Kershaw (keyboards). The rebalance of the band, with three good voices that mix well, and much broader instrumental palette aided by high-profile producer James Ford, brings something new to this multifarious release of stop-start experiment and oddball narratives, now moving away from the more live performance feel of Ants from Up There (2022) or indeed their subsequent Bush Hall gig album. For the Cold Country typifies their multi-sectioned, stop-start songs, one that tells the story of a knight in armour who ends up flying a kite with his own ghost - why not? Just because.
However, Black Country, New Road understandably divide opinion. Honing their talents in the recent fertile south London scene centred around the Windmill venue, they are also undeniably, white, middle-class and privileged, several with a high level of classical training, and you could could just as well picture them playing these instruments not so long ago in their school orchestras. Their music verges on the pretentious, yet it’s also unafraid to be so, winsome and alternative, echoing a prog-rock-Canterbury folk and other scenes from the early 70s from Genesis to Soft Machine, and also channelling and borrowing something from Joanna Newsom. Nothing wrong with that if it’s done well, of course. But also there’s a depth to this pastoral quality, that sunny, nuanced sound has a darkness of theme, a folky nursery-rhyme flavour of cruelty lurking behind it. For example Salem Sisters begins like a civilised summer party and becomes an execution by burning; Two Horses is a picaresque, bucolic three-part musical voyage, but ends up with the animals being fatally mutilated'; Mary seems to portray a bullied schoolgirl’s suicide; Socks mixes a sense of enjoying life, but also worry about news, current affairs and the future – “I’m doing fine, having a whale of a time, but the world could consume all the things that you knew.” There is also among these, and others, some beautiful melodies and clever instrumentation, from flute to mandolin and more, overdubbed and layered, with Besties and especially Happy Birthday (with caustic lyrics such as “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”) as particularly standouts, as well as final track, the bittersweet Goodbye (Don’t Tell Me). Cleverly crafted beauty, with a darkly insecure underscore. Out on Ninja Tune.
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