Ants From Up There | 2LP

Black Country, New Road | Ants From Up There - 2LP

Release date: 04.02.2022

Double black 140g vinyl, housed in an artworked gatefold sleeve with black paper inner sleeves and 20 page lyric booklet and sticker.

Black Country, New Road return with their second album Ants From Up There. Following on almost exactly a year to the day from the release of their acclaimed debut For the first time, the band have harnessed the momentum from that record and run full pelt into their second, with Ants From Up There managing to strike a skilful balance between feeling like a bold stylistic overhaul of what came before, as well as a natural progression.

Released alongside the announcement the band (Lewis Evans, May Kershaw, Charlie Wayne, Luke Mark, Isaac Wood, Tyler Hyde and Georgia Ellery) have also today shared the first single from the album, ‘Chaos Space Marine’, a track that has already become a live favourite with fans since its first public airings earlier this year - combining sprightly violin, rhythmic piano, and stabs of saxophone to create something infectiously fluid that builds to a rousing crescendo. It’s a track that frontman Isaac Wood calls “the best song we’ve ever written.” It’s a chaotic yet coherent creation that ricochets around unpredictably but also seamlessly. “We threw in every idea anyone had with that song,” says Wood. “So the making of it was a really fast, whimsical approach - like throwing all the shit at the wall and just letting everything stick.”

Their debut For the first time is a certain 2021 Album of the Year, having received ecstatic reviews from critics and fans alike as well as being shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. For the first time the band melded klezmer, post-rock, indie and an often intense spoken word delivery. On Ants From Up There they have expanded on this unique concoction to create a singular sonic middle ground that traverses classical minimalism, indie-folk, pop, alt rock and a distinct tone that is already unique to the band.

Recorded at Chale Abbey Studios, Isle Of Wight, across the summer with the band’s long-term live engineer Sergio Maschetzko, it’s also an album that comes loaded with a deep-rooted conviction in the end result. “We were just so hyped the whole time,” says Hyde. “It was such a pleasure to make. I've kind of accepted that this might be the best thing that I'm ever part of for the rest of my life. And that's fine.”

Standard Tracklist:

Intro
Chaos Space Marine
Concorde
Bread Song
Good Will Hunting
Haldern
Mark’s Theme
The Place Where He Inserted the Blade
Snow Globes
Basketball Shoes

Deluxe Tracklist

Side A

A1. Intro
A2. Chaos Space Marine
A3. Concorde
A4. Bread Song

Side B

B1. Good Will Hunting
B2. Haldern
B3. Mark’s Theme

Side C

C1. The Place Where He Inserted the Blade
C2. Snow Globes

Side D

D1. Basketball Shoes

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Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall

Side A

A1. Mark’s Theme (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
A2. Instrumental (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
A3. Athens France (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)

Side B

B1. Science Fair (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
B2. Sunglasses (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)

Side C

C1. Track X (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
C2. Opus (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)
C3. Bread Song (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)

Side D

D1. Basketball Shoes (Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall)