Album Review: Unconventional and adventurous — Black Country, New Road

A little more on the unconventional side, "Black Country, New Road’s “For the first time” is a post-rock, jazz infused musical escapade that, although may seem a bit challenging to get into at first, offers one of the best album listening experiences from a record this year.

The London based seven-piece band formed in 2018, and released their first single “Athens, France” in January 2019. The single was met with a rather quiet, but excited buzz.

However, it was the release of their second single, “Sunglasses” that really garnered attention from various music critics and reviewers, and for good reason, as the single demonstrated the musicians’ talent and unorthodox sound.

“For the first time” was released in February 2021, and immediately established Black Country, New Road as one of the most exciting bands in the world. Surprisingly, all the members are in their early 20s.

The septet is comprised of two guitarists, a drummer, a bassist, a keyboardist, a saxophonist and a violinist, which sets Black Country, New Road apart from a lot of “traditional” rock band ensembles.

The album starts with the tone-setting introduction “Instrumental”, presenting complex melodic passages and instrumentations that would follow for the rest of the album. This track begins the album’s borrowings of fundamental concepts of minimalism, which is the musical concept of employing a scarce musical idea and expanding upon it over the duration of a piece.

“Instrumental” practices this beautifully, taking a simple guitar passage over a repeated drum cadence underneath it and uses its simplicity to add other instruments and melodies until it all crescendos to an explosion of colorful sounds and expressions towards the end of the track.

This is a common theme throughout the album, as one of the album’s greatest qualities is the patience it has throughout its tracks. Each track feels like its own adventure which come together to create the album’s story, following the troubled thoughts of the album’s narrator presented by the infectious and sometimes haunting vocals of guitarist and singer Isaac Wood.

“For the first time” is more than just the six songs on the album, as it brings you into the world of the naïve, insecure and tormented mind of the album’s narrator.

This is an album that demands to be listened to in its entirety and in order (as one should listen to albums) to fully grasp what is being presented, but one can easily pull any of the six tracks out individually and be met with a stunning performance of great musical nuance and integrity.

Although we’re still early into 2021, this album is a strong contender for my top album.