Live at Bush Hall by Black Country, New Road

In last year’s review of Black Country, New Road’s amazing sophomore album, Ants From Up There (#11 in 2022), I shared that their deep-voiced lead singer, Isaac Wood, had left the band due to mental health reasons just four days before the release of the album. The band’s future was summarily thrown into the unknown. How does a band move on from something as impossibly disruptive as losing their lead voice?

Well, I couldn’t be happier to report that they’ve gone and done the impossible. BC,NR, from Cambridgeshire, England, went from a seven-piece ensemble with one lead singer to a six-piece group with four alternating leads, to magical effect. Shortly after Wood’s departure, the band had regrouped but knew their road to recovery wasn’t straightforward. Tyler Hyde, bassist for the band and de facto lead, shared that the band's next release might not take the form of a studio album, saying at the time, “I know it's not going to be an album in its normal form. It would be cool to work with an orchestra; it would be cool to do a film score. These are just some of the ideas we're bouncing around at the moment.” Just under a year later, the band took the natural next step: they put together three separate experience-driven performances at Bush Hall in West London, filmed them from multiple angles (including fans in the audience who had been tasked as part of the AV Club), edited those performances together into one cohesive whole, and then released the result as a film and subsequent album, the amazing Live at Bush Hall.

I don’t usually feature live albums in the Top 31, because live albums, no matter how nicely produced, tend to be mere “best of” collections of songs. The songs on Live at Bush Hall are all entirely new for BC,NR, written and performed live in the aftermath from Wood’s departure. In the span of 8 months in 2022, the band worked out the full set that would make up the three performances, with none of their earlier work with Wood being featured. In fact, the band has said they will never perform songs from their first two albums, out of respect for Wood, but should he feel strong enough to make a return to the stage, they would welcome the opportunity to do so.

The six piece are an eclectic mix, not unlike former indie darlings Arcade Fire. Tyler Hyde (bass), May Kershaw (keyboards), and Lewis Evans (horns and woodwinds) all take turns singing lead on two or more songs. And Charlie Wayne (drums), Georgia Ellery (violin), and Luke Mark (guitar) all lend their voice in harmony and background throughout the album.

When watching the film (linked above), you get a little insight into the three themes they chose for the performances. As reviewed in NME back in February, each performance “has its own unique theme, for which the band (under the collective pseudonym Hubert Dalcrosse) penned a brief synopsis for a different fictional theatrical performance. They are, respectively, “When The Whistle Thins,” about a council of Somerset farmers’ quarterly harvest summit, “I Ain’t Alfredo No Ghosts,” about a beloved pizza chef’s encounter with a poltergeist, and “The Taming Of The School,” a 1980s prom-themed caper. Each performance involved DIY art and stagecraft set, costumes and face paint, and, at least in the case of the pizza story, what appears to be a complete dining experience with actual pizza served. There is no attempt to make these three performances feel like one single performance in the film, by design. This is a collection of the best of the bunch from all three, and presented as such.

Having only heard Ants, but knowing Wood was no longer in the band, I had the immense pleasure of seeing BC,NR perform in the afternoon sun on the main stage at THING 2023. I didn’t know a single song (as I hadn’t known what had gone into Bush Hall and the stellar performance album that came from it), but I left feeling elated. Watch my personal recording of the band’s gobsmackingly lovely performance of “Turbines/Pigs,” led by pianist Kershaw. You can sense a real hush fall on the crowd – 95% not sure what we’re in for – as the song starts, and we all stand in rapt attention for 9 minutes of pure emotion. I saw more than one person crying at the end of it, no joke.

I cannot wait to see where BC,NR go next. Something tells me they won’t simply record these songs in a sterile studio environment. I expect the next record to be a full, studio-recorded album of new songs. Or maybe they’ve found their groove as a live-only band, and that’s what will form their next recorded work. One things for sure, they’re nowhere near “done.” They’ve faced a kind of adversity that bands never come back from, and they weathered the storm. I’ll be waiting here with bated breath for whatever comes next.

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Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road

My guess is that this may be the last surprise of the 2022 Top 31. Sure, you might be surprised by the order in which I place my Top 10, or you might be surprised to find your particular favorite wasn’t one of mine. But I would be surprised if you don’t read the Top 10 as they’re revealed over the next ten days, nod your head at each one, and think “yep, ok, I can see that.”

Not so for Black Country, New Road, here at #11, which you’ve likely not ever heard of, despite some modest level of critical acclaim. And if you have heard of them, then you no doubt know why I’m placing them way up in my top albums of 2022. Known as BC,NR because, well, it’s a lot easier to write and it’s also awesome to have a comma in an abbreviation, the band met in Cambridgeshire, England, in 2018. They named themselves after the subject found at a click of the “random article” button in Wikipedia: Black Country New Road, a street in the West Midlands. Ants From Up There is their second album, recorded with seven members: Tyler Hyde (bass), Lewis Evans (flute, saxophone), May Kershaw (keyboards), Georgia Ellery (violin), Charlie Wayne (drums), Luke Mark (guitar), all of whom played their instruments deftly while singing backup to frontman, guitarist, and principal lyricist Isaac Wood.

Wood’s voice is low, with a vibrato that makes your subs shake — not quite as low as Ian Curtis, not quite as smooth as Justin Vernon, but every bit engaging. His lyrics have a literary lilt to them that don’t quite paint a story, but lead you to the next word, verse, and chorus as if compelled by tendrils of sound. And much to everyone detriment, there will be no more BC,NR albums with Wood at the helm. Four days before the release of Ants, Wood and the band announced on Instagram that he would be stepping away from the band, from the limelight, permanently. His mental health had been suffering greatly, and he needed to take care of himself.

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A post shared by Black Country, New Road (@blackcountrynewroad)

I first heard the album probably a week or so after it debuted on February 4, 2022. It filled me with such excitement, when I first started trying to learn more about the band I was devastated to find the post above and learn I’d never be able to experience the excitement Wood brings to the stage. I listened more and more to Ants over the coming months, and hit a point where I couldn’t put the album down. Pulling from the same influences as Beirut, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Decemberists, Slint, Noah and the Whale, BC,NR bring together heavy orchestration, ivy league intelligence, and prog-rock turns that leave you breathless. This is the album you need to fill the Arcade Fire-sized void left behind because of Win Butler’s sexual misconduct.

You’ll recognize violinist Georgia Ellery’s name, as she is one-half of Jockstrap, featured at #21 just 11 days ago. I’m pretty sure that’s the first time an artist has been an integral part of two separate bands featured on a single Top 31. When Wood announced his departure on January 31, the band had to cancel their upcoming tour and weren’t sure where this would lead them. A few months later, they had picked themselves back up and were touring again, now as a six-piece, with Hyde, Kershaw, Evans, and Wayne taking turns on lead vocals. I have not been able to see this incarnation of the band, but the strength of these songs and these musicians makes me believe it’s still every bit as strong.

Ants came out a year after those original seven band members released their debut, For The First Time, in February, 2021. I missed their debut, and based on how much I love Ants, a fairly sizable oversight on my part. I’m curious to see where the band will go next. I enjoy the Wood incarnation of the band, and am patiently waiting to see what the band will put together next. “Concord,” shown in the video above, is probably my favorite song on the album. But if you like it, I encourage you to explore the rest of the album.

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#6 on the 2023 Bacon Top 31 — Black Country, New Road

#11 on the 2022 Bacon Top 31 — Black Country, New Road