Review Summary: I guess I'm really out of touch
Black Country, New Road is one of the latest bands that has made me question my taste, wondering if I'm out of touch. The level of acclaim, especially on the internet, surely has to say something about how high-quality their music is, yet somehow it feels like it's flying over the head of some of us. Much like their Windmill scene counterparts Black Midi, their music takes its shape in a form of artsy indie-adjacent, progressive-leaning rock, but where BM's selling point seems to be the increasingly manic and chaotic compositions described as "avant-prog" and "brutal prog", this seven-piece, which would then become a six-piece shortly before this album's release, focuses far more heavily on creating an emotive atmosphere that is meant to strike a chord with the listener in the "feels" department. Clearly, for a lot of people, that goal was successful.
On paper, this should be a slam dunk. On paper, this band's mishmash combinations of art rock, post-rock and indie/chamber-poppy stuff in the vein of the biggest names in indie rock from yesteryear should 100% work, and at points during
Ants from Up There, there are moments where it just about gets there. Whether it's the beautifully-crafted brass sections on a song like "The Place Where He Inserted the Blade", interludes like "Mark's Theme", or even lead single "Chaos Space Marine", it isn't like they completely slip and fall at every interval while trying to create something memorable that will last through generations. On paper, the "modern classic" status this album has attained makes complete sense, yet somehow it rings as overblown at the same time, as the expectation set by its hype subconsciously makes the listener expect so much more than it seems to be able to provide. It feels like it's
supposed to compete with the best of its styles it derives from the most, yet despite all that, it rings more hollow than expected, not quite reaching the heights of other acts that have received far less acclaim.
One of the most frustrating parts of this listen most certainly has to be getting past Isaac Wood's vocal delivery and lyricism. Much of his singing on here leans towards the baritone end, while occasionally raising his voice, and while it's clearly worked for a lot of people, I have found the sound to be very grating. He's less shout-y than he was on
For the First Time, but it still winds up not feeling like very much of a step forward. Wood is also consistently heralded as the "voice of Gen-Z" in internet circles, and while it's fair to say he's certainly far from a bad lyricist, it seems like for every line that is super poetic and poignant, there's another line waiting in the shadows, itching to find a way to annoy the listener in this case. On "Good Will Hunting", the chorus begins with the line "She had Billie Eilish style"; far from the worst offender out there as far as hackneyed pop culture references, but it does beg the question on if Wood's lyricism can stand alone without being littered with the same type of "of-the-time" writing that made "We Didn't Start the Fire" feel outdated enough in the current decade to beget bands to try their hand at a modern cover of it.
The worst offender lyrically however has to be "Basketball Shoes", where the outro directly details a very much not-safe-for-work dream Isaac purportedly had about Charli XCX. He repeats the following passage three times:
"in my bedsheets, now wet / of Charli, I pray to forget / all I’ve been forms the drone, we sing the rest / oh, your generous loan to me, your crippling interest". It's honestly really uncomfortable to listen to, and to his credit, even Isaac realized how bizarre it was; after all, he apologized and rewrote lines for the final cut on the album here. Lyrics like that really give off the impression that this man's relationship with women is deeply unhealthy, and hopefully in his time away from Black Country, New Road, he takes genuine steps to fix those internal issues and gets some therapy before he goes down the route of so many other artists who have struggled with similar intrusive thoughts.
Given that most of the criticism here regards Isaac Wood's vocals and lyricism, it stands to reason that if this album was instrumental-only, it would certainly hit a lot better. The somewhat jazz-inspired instrumentation carries
Ants from Up There to still being overall a mildly positive experience, and the post-rock builds on tracks like "The Place Where He Inserted the Blade", "Snow Globes", and even "Basketball Shoes" are noteworthy. The few moments of respite from vocals, such as on "Mark's Theme", are moments I grew to appreciate the more time I spent trying to understand this. This band would then go on to make
Live at Bush Hall, which featured a pretty substantial step up in the vocal department, and "Besties" signals a new direction, and maybe a better way in than this if you also aren't fond of Wood's voice. Maybe I'm just out of touch, but when it comes to post-rock, I'd prefer to
Break My Fucking Sky before I ever visit the
Ants from Up There again.
