2023 - UK
Art Rock, Progressive Pop, Chamber Pop, Post-Rock
It’s funny how Live at Bush Hall was considered as a rebirth, a reinvention or even a revelation. After the decade-defining Ants From Up There, Black Country, New Road had a strong identity revolving around their lead singer and main lyricist Issac Wood. But what shapes the DNA of a band ? For instance, are Basketball Shoes’ lyrics more impacting than it’s cathartic instrumental ? Was Isaac’s voice the main event from the British collective ? Or were we just looking at things in a very concise way ? « It’s quite an easy narrative to fall into, that the band has had to relearn how to play with each other. […] We’ve made an effort to constantly be trying new things as a band, to try and keep the songwriting fresh and to feel like what we’re doing is interesting for ourselves and for our audience. But also, fundamentally, it’s still the same musicians in the room ». In this interview to Exclaim!, drummer Charlie Wayne said it all. Live at Bush Hall isn’t a rebirth, nor a reinvention, nor a revelation, it’s a new perspective on six musicians that all stepped into the spotlight after Isaac Wood’s sudden departure. And just as we rediscovered them after For the First Time, we’re rediscovering them once again, and that’s what makes them so exceptional. Now with three lead singers and multiple songwriters all mastering their main instrument (Tyler Hyde on bass, May Kershaw on piano, Luke Mark on guitar, Lewis Evans on saxophone and flute, Georgia Ellery on violin and Charlie Wayne on drums), Black Country, New Road established themselves, once again, as the most promising, epic and multiform emerging band of the 2020’s.
And when it comes to perspectives, what Live at Bush Hall does without any clear precedent, is the ability to put every musician in the foreground. Because first and foremost, Live at Bush Hall is a rare love letter to the musicians themselves. This is also why this album could only be recorded live. Recording in a studio is a process that takes time, recording songs live is another process that takes a different kind of time. And here, what we have is an intensity, a brightness, a burst of spontaneity. And even if « the songs weren’t really written in relation to each other », as said Lewis Evans to NME, we’re witnessing every members’ talent at songwriting. Lyrically, it’s the heart-wrenching questions from Tyler Hyde’s Up Song and I Won’t Always Love You, with her deadpan dark voice and a vibrato a bit like Isaac Wood’s. It’s May Kershaw and her dramatic and poetic crystal-clear words on Turbines/Pigs and The Boy. And finally, it’s Lewis Evans’ more careful but still playful words on Across the Pond Friend and The Wrong Trousers. Three songwriters, three lyrical worlds, all very different, but also two educations. May, Georgia and Lewis all attended music schools while Tyler, Charlie and Luke are self-made musicians. « There are two ways of looking at music. Because with education comes rules that have been placed into your head of how music works – and because we never went to school, we don’t have these rules, so it’s just different ways of approaching songwriting. » When Tyler Hyde defined these two processes to La Face B, she put her finger on something dripping all over Black Country, New Road’s music. Between May Kershaw’s classicly trained piano play and Luke Mark more heartfelt guitar solos, the band is able to find a balance between formal music and liberated crescendos that elevate their aspirations.
But even if all this sounds like an unlimited and continuous burst of creativity, the six members of Black Country, New Road still owe their current status to someone who had to leave them behind, for a better life. Isaac Wood’s shadow still floats upon the album during the very first song, and until the very last. « Did you exchange your soul with the devil / All so that you could survive the dark pit which you once lived ? » asks Tyler Hyde on Up Song. No names. There’s no names in these lyrics, but it’s impossible not to think about that sudden event that shook the band’s life for a while. And when the song explodes in a final communal shout « Look at what we did together, BCNR friends forever », it sounds like the raging sound of survival and unity, both within the band, and between the band and their audience. When Tyler repeats « Laughing at your own songs again / How we laughed, you made me laugh / Well what does that say? / What does that say? / When I have accepted that no-one else will make me laugh like that ever again », when Lewis claims « As you grew away from us / I knew nothing of your feelings as such but / We made something to be proud of » on The Wrong Trousers, they are paying tribute to a memory that grew bigger than all of them. And there’s something deeply poignant to hear such mundane and intimate words about an event that was first met with so much shock, sadness and uncertainties.
This is Black Country, New Road’s other unique quality. Their innate gift for self-mythology. Ants From Up There was made of grand imagery, pop-culture references meshed with historical deities, a meeting between the profane and the sacred in a powerful orchestral world where every instrumental outburst fet like a cry from the heart increased tenfold by the spectacular symbiotic relationship between every band member. Live at Bush Hall repeats this formula with the same class, greatness, and sometimes a bit more humor. On Laughing Song, Tyler Hyde lists BCNR’s own songs, « Laughing, I Won’t Always Love You, Trousers, Turbines, Up Song, Dancers » over and over, making this little world of songwriting something way bigger carried by a loud orchestration. A celebration of music. With May Kershaw’s tales of robins and witches, BCNR’s mythology keeps growing on The Boy and Turbines/Pigs, the latter being one of Black Country, New Road’s best song to date. Starting with a delicate piano section and sublime vocals by the pianist, Turbines is a slow burner. A very discreet chamber piece setting place in a gigantic amphitheatre ready to welcome the heavy sounds of many other instruments. Citing the Bible (even more mythology) with « Don’t waste your pearls on me, I’m only a pig », May Kershaw takes the full potential of instrumental loops growing in intensity to tell the story of a woman facing utter doubts regarding her own person. « Am I am worthy of your love? » could be a decent subtitle to the song.
And when the song relentlessly climbs a mountain of intensity, with Charlie Wayne giving everything for one of the most memorable drumming section in recent history, heaven doors open. The band has been working on instrumental loops since they started making music as Black Country, New Road. For the First Time was the shuttering debut of that technique between Klezmer Jazz and post-rockish post-minimalism, Ants From Up There was the culmination and Live at Bush Hall the legitimate continuation. And after the also mind-blowing Dancers, it all goes back to the beginning with a reprise of Up Song. Live at Bush Hall is a frozen momentum, three work-in-progress gigs compiled in one album. And it’s right there on stage that they their 2022 masterpiece of a lifetime became one masterpiece among others on their immaculate musical journey. Between old habits and new experiments, Black Country, New Road are moving forward with a lot of precision and expertise. And freedom. With Georgia Ellery pushing her experimentations way further with her glitch pop duo Jockstrap, the future keeps getting brighter and brighter for a band that, hopefully, won’t stop playing together before a long long time. Because whether it’s with the sweet breeze of their ballads or the violent eruptions of their climaxes, the magic flowing from their chemisty is always as bewitching.
And when it comes to perspectives, what Live at Bush Hall does without any clear precedent, is the ability to put every musician in the foreground. Because first and foremost, Live at Bush Hall is a rare love letter to the musicians themselves. This is also why this album could only be recorded live. Recording in a studio is a process that takes time, recording songs live is another process that takes a different kind of time. And here, what we have is an intensity, a brightness, a burst of spontaneity. And even if « the songs weren’t really written in relation to each other », as said Lewis Evans to NME, we’re witnessing every members’ talent at songwriting. Lyrically, it’s the heart-wrenching questions from Tyler Hyde’s Up Song and I Won’t Always Love You, with her deadpan dark voice and a vibrato a bit like Isaac Wood’s. It’s May Kershaw and her dramatic and poetic crystal-clear words on Turbines/Pigs and The Boy. And finally, it’s Lewis Evans’ more careful but still playful words on Across the Pond Friend and The Wrong Trousers. Three songwriters, three lyrical worlds, all very different, but also two educations. May, Georgia and Lewis all attended music schools while Tyler, Charlie and Luke are self-made musicians. « There are two ways of looking at music. Because with education comes rules that have been placed into your head of how music works – and because we never went to school, we don’t have these rules, so it’s just different ways of approaching songwriting. » When Tyler Hyde defined these two processes to La Face B, she put her finger on something dripping all over Black Country, New Road’s music. Between May Kershaw’s classicly trained piano play and Luke Mark more heartfelt guitar solos, the band is able to find a balance between formal music and liberated crescendos that elevate their aspirations.
But even if all this sounds like an unlimited and continuous burst of creativity, the six members of Black Country, New Road still owe their current status to someone who had to leave them behind, for a better life. Isaac Wood’s shadow still floats upon the album during the very first song, and until the very last. « Did you exchange your soul with the devil / All so that you could survive the dark pit which you once lived ? » asks Tyler Hyde on Up Song. No names. There’s no names in these lyrics, but it’s impossible not to think about that sudden event that shook the band’s life for a while. And when the song explodes in a final communal shout « Look at what we did together, BCNR friends forever », it sounds like the raging sound of survival and unity, both within the band, and between the band and their audience. When Tyler repeats « Laughing at your own songs again / How we laughed, you made me laugh / Well what does that say? / What does that say? / When I have accepted that no-one else will make me laugh like that ever again », when Lewis claims « As you grew away from us / I knew nothing of your feelings as such but / We made something to be proud of » on The Wrong Trousers, they are paying tribute to a memory that grew bigger than all of them. And there’s something deeply poignant to hear such mundane and intimate words about an event that was first met with so much shock, sadness and uncertainties.
This is Black Country, New Road’s other unique quality. Their innate gift for self-mythology. Ants From Up There was made of grand imagery, pop-culture references meshed with historical deities, a meeting between the profane and the sacred in a powerful orchestral world where every instrumental outburst fet like a cry from the heart increased tenfold by the spectacular symbiotic relationship between every band member. Live at Bush Hall repeats this formula with the same class, greatness, and sometimes a bit more humor. On Laughing Song, Tyler Hyde lists BCNR’s own songs, « Laughing, I Won’t Always Love You, Trousers, Turbines, Up Song, Dancers » over and over, making this little world of songwriting something way bigger carried by a loud orchestration. A celebration of music. With May Kershaw’s tales of robins and witches, BCNR’s mythology keeps growing on The Boy and Turbines/Pigs, the latter being one of Black Country, New Road’s best song to date. Starting with a delicate piano section and sublime vocals by the pianist, Turbines is a slow burner. A very discreet chamber piece setting place in a gigantic amphitheatre ready to welcome the heavy sounds of many other instruments. Citing the Bible (even more mythology) with « Don’t waste your pearls on me, I’m only a pig », May Kershaw takes the full potential of instrumental loops growing in intensity to tell the story of a woman facing utter doubts regarding her own person. « Am I am worthy of your love? » could be a decent subtitle to the song.
And when the song relentlessly climbs a mountain of intensity, with Charlie Wayne giving everything for one of the most memorable drumming section in recent history, heaven doors open. The band has been working on instrumental loops since they started making music as Black Country, New Road. For the First Time was the shuttering debut of that technique between Klezmer Jazz and post-rockish post-minimalism, Ants From Up There was the culmination and Live at Bush Hall the legitimate continuation. And after the also mind-blowing Dancers, it all goes back to the beginning with a reprise of Up Song. Live at Bush Hall is a frozen momentum, three work-in-progress gigs compiled in one album. And it’s right there on stage that they their 2022 masterpiece of a lifetime became one masterpiece among others on their immaculate musical journey. Between old habits and new experiments, Black Country, New Road are moving forward with a lot of precision and expertise. And freedom. With Georgia Ellery pushing her experimentations way further with her glitch pop duo Jockstrap, the future keeps getting brighter and brighter for a band that, hopefully, won’t stop playing together before a long long time. Because whether it’s with the sweet breeze of their ballads or the violent eruptions of their climaxes, the magic flowing from their chemisty is always as bewitching.