Black Country, New Road Share Horn-Laden Post-Punk Single “Sunglasses”
Photo by Bjorn Lebowski
Black Country, New Road are the next exciting band from producer Dan Carey’s (Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip, Bloc Party) London-based label Speedy Wunderground (Black Midi, Squid). This seven-piece band just shared a new single today (July 15), the sprawling, nine-minute “Sunglasses,” which was mixed by Carey. It’s out digitally tomorrow via BC,NR / Speedy Wunderground, and it’s out on limited-edition seven-inch vinyl on Sept. 6 via the Thurston Moore-affiliated Blank Editions.
“Sunglasses” begins as a slow, minimal punk groover, marked by frontman Isaac Woods’ spoken-word observations, each evoking someone or something on the brink of breakdown. Things start to crumble as the emotional burden that Woods slowly unravels with each line becomes too heavy to bear, resulting in vocals and horns that both shriek for dear life. “Sunglasses” is concerned with harsh normalcy, personal inadequacies and superficiality, and Black Country, New Road capture life’s absurdity and cruelty in a ghastly post-punk odyssey.
“It describes a series of events, loosely connected, all yet to happen,” Woods says about the single’s themes. “The song was intended to be highly inspirational. The lyrics are sometimes concerned with symbols of wealth or affluence but they are not written from a critical or even external position.”
Their debut single “Athens, France” sold out of its pressing on Speedy Wunderground in just a few days, so you’ll have to be quick to preorder their new one.
Listen to “Sunglasses” below and scroll down to see their upcoming European tour dates.