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'Forever Howlong': Black Country, New Road talks sweet sounds, closer ties
May Kershaw and Georgia Ellery spoke to The Jakarta Post about the band's reconfigured lineup, shift in soundscape and hoping for another Jakarta gig ahead of the April 4 release of their third studio offering, three years since the departure of front man Isaac Wood.
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Evenly knit: British post-rock outfit Black Country, New Road is now made up of six members (clockwise from top left), May Kershaw, Tyler Hyde, Lewis Evans, Georgia Ellery, Luke Mark and Charlie Wayne, after front man Isaac Wood's departure in 2022. (Courtesy of Eddie Whelan) (Courtesy of Eddie Whelan/-)
F
or one of the most current and acclaimed acts from the United Kingdom like Black Country, New Road, a sudden change in the band’s lineup should have been a terrifying shift, especially if this involves the departure of its front man and lyricist.
Hailed for his melodramatic passages and manic talk-singing, former front man Isaac Wood left the band just days before the 2022 release of its second album, Ants From Up There, which garnered critical acclaim just like its debut release, For the First Time.
But the band did not consist of Wood only. Now a six-strong outfit, Black Country, New Road softly introduced its new sound in 2023’s Live at Bush Hall. Some of the rock formula remains, but with more covert sweetness and a richer subtlety to its dark undertone.
Two years on and the band’s new album Forever Howlong promises a similarly magical sound, shedding more of the band’s early post-punk influences to lean toward chamber and baroque music.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post via Zoom ahead of the album’s release on April 4, keyboardist May Kershaw and violinist Georgia Ellery described the shift as natural.
“I don’t think we set an intention for our recent releases to be sweeter, it just came out like that,” Kershaw told the Post in the late afternoon in early February from Cambridge.
Ellery, who joined in from London, nodded approvingly.
