Not many album openers start with a harpsichord these days, and the ones that do certainly don’t name-drop TikTok in the final verse.
Black Country, New Road’s third studio album, “Forever Howlong,” manages to do both in the British six-piece’s genre-bending, multilayered April release. The new record is the band’s first studio album since their breakout 2022 release “Ants from Up There,” which landed on the best-of-year lists of publications such as Pitchfork and showed a more melodic and accessible side of BCNR.
On “Ants,” the band still exuded Windmill scene authenticity with their signature klezmer-inspired post-punk, but some of the singalong choruses had the broad indie appeal of acts such as Arcade Fire – a major influence.
But days before “Ants” was released, frontman Isaac Wood left the band.
Frankly, no one could sing those songs like him. No one should. Wood’s delivery is one-of-a-kind, impassioned and brilliantly raw.
The band realized that too, and with a full tour ahead for “Ants,” they scrapped the setlist, throwing together newly written songs and rearranging performance dates. The new tracks serviced the tour and were later released as 2023’s “Live at Bush Hall,” with bassist Tyler Hyde, saxophonist Lewis Evans, and keyboardist May Kershaw splitting vocal duties.
“Bush Hall” is a quality listen, but BCNR had some more prep time for “Forever Howlong." In line with the band’s past material, most of the songs are a sprawling four to six minutes, with multiple sections and intricate arrangements.
There’s also a shift in genre. BCNR has always been impossible to nail down to one descriptor, but on “Forever Howlong” they’re almost completely removed from their rock roots. Part of it is that they’re down a guitarist – another talent of Wood’s – but the songwriting itself is notably different.
“We never really grooved until this album, so getting to strum away on a nice acoustic guitar is a great feeling,” guitarist Luke Mark told Guitar.com's Huw Baines in April.
Old BCNR had a frantic, depressing, and at times distorted sound, while the “Forever Howlong” version is more acoustic and whimsical. The lyrics are still downers at times – the narratives of “Two Horses” and “Nancy Tries to Takes the Night” come to tragic ends – but the instrumentation has a folksy and theatrical flair that’s even earned the “twee” label from several reviews.
The band has always stood out for their eclectic choice of instruments, and here a mandolin, banjo, and accordion enter the rotation alongside the usual drums, guitar, bass, keyboard, violin, and saxophone. And on songs like “Mary” and the title track, every member not currently singing grabs a recorder to create chordal harmonies that sound like an earthy Mellotron.
If you fell in love with BCNR because of the electric guitar-driven sound they debuted with in 2018, this won’t scratch the same itch. But the musicianship is still undeniably off the charts.
It’s a similar situation with the vocals. Wood’s lyrics and quivering baritone were so unique that the band will never come close to that old sound – but different doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad. On “Forever Howlong,” the similarly competent Hyde, Kershaw, and violinist Georgia Ellery take turns as the lead singer.
Wood, at his worst, was a lonesome, chronically online poet; now the songwriting is led by the three female members of the band, and it’s a new perspective.
“It’s a pretty wide spectrum of womanhood,” Hyde told Pitchfork’s Ian Cohen in January. “The three of us have been raised in different ways and gone through different things, and it really touches on a lot of general feelings of humanity as well as specific events that have happened to us. It’s a small encyclopedia.”
But Wood-era BCNR still stands out when it comes to pacing. He had a slow, dramatic delivery, giving each of his highly specific lines time to digest before moving onto the next. There were minutes-long instrumental passages, and each of the band's first two studio albums contained songs without any vocals at all.
That’s not the case on “Forever Howlong.” The lyrics are far more rapid-fire and the wide-open sections are fewer. There aren’t any instrumental songs. The result means lyric-heavy cuts like “Socks” and the title track can feel meandering and even busy.
Mixing is another nitpick. You can pick out each of the half-dozen instruments clearly at any one time, with Evans’ saxophone licks sounding tasty as ever, but Charlie Wayne’s drums are squashed with compression.
The dramatic climaxes of “Two Horses” and “Nancy Tries to Take the Night” have pattering percussion rather than the robust sound the songs’ drama demands – the dynamics that made the band’s prior work so bold are less prominent.
While “Forever Howlong” doesn’t contain the same edge that made BCNR a hit in the late 2010s, the band’s sense of melody is still very much alive. The triumphant choruses of “Salem Sisters” and closer “Goodbye (Don’t Tell Me)” are up there with the group’s best.
The album isn’t on the same year-defining level as “Ants from Up There,” but it shows that BCNR’s remaining six members still make a great band. The new sound, while it still needs honing, is an exciting development.
The irony, however, is that the best tracks on “Forever Howlong” – “Happy Birthday” and “For the Cold Country” – are the closest on the album to BCNR’s old, prog-rock epic sound. The metamorphosis isn’t complete just yet.
At a glance:
Band: Black Country, New Road
Album: “Forever Howlong”
Released: April 4, 2025
Length: 11 songs; 52 minutes, 15 seconds
Members: Tyler Hyde, Lewis Evans, May Kershaw, Luke Mark, Charlie Wayne, Georgia Ellery
Label: Ninja Tune
Producer: James Ford
Best songs: “Happy Birthday,” “For the Cold Country,” “Two Horses,” “Goodbye (Don’t Tell Me)”
Nearby tour dates: May 23, Roseland Theater, Portland, Oregon; May 24, Moore Theatre, Seattle, Washington.
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