Before they released their first album, Black Country, New Road had already been dubbed “the best band in the world” by John Doran of The Quietus.
Most of the songs on For The First Time had been released — or at least played live and uploaded to Youtube — by the time of its February 5, 2021 release.
Their tour behind that record was restricted by COVID, but they stayed true to form, using regional gigs to perfect the songs on their brand new album, Ants From Up There, out now, a day before the one-year anniversary of their debut. “We asked people not to film the songs this time, because last time that happened, everyone liked those versions more than the ones we actually released,” guitarist Luke Mark says.
But it’s tough to imagine the tracks on Ants being any more actualized than they are here. Part of FTFT’s charm was the way its songs rambled, singer Isaac Woods’ spoken-word lyrics seemingly improvised on the spot.
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