There was a time when some of the most exciting post-punk bands of the 2010s could be found at a humble pub and live music venue called The Windmill in Brixton, London. It’s here that bands like Black Midi and Squid became known for their eccentric, experimental approach to post-punk with spoken word, rapid yet jagged riffs and uniquely erratic performances. One of the bigger groups in this scene was Black Country, New Road, which consisted of bassist Tyler Hyde, flutist/saxophonist Lewis Evans, vocalist/violinist Georgia Ellery, keyboardist May Kershaw, drummer Charlie Wayne and lead vocalist/guitarist Isaac Wood. Their newest project Forever Howlong, released on April 4th 2025, is their first official studio album released since Wood’s departure in 2022, and it is another showcase of their continuously evolving sound and their refusal to be pinned down to a single genre.
After their first few singles and live performances, the band released their debut record For the First Time, which boasted an experimental blend of art rock and post-punk while still having a lot of heart and emotion at the center of its songs thanks to Wood’s lyrics and performances. Their 2022 follow-up record Ants From Up There helped the band garner even more praise from fans and critics. That record saw the band dabbling with more palatable, listener-friendly sounds that combined with their art rock while still maintaining the emotional core and vulnerability from before, resulting in one of the most critically acclaimed albums of that year. I recall listening to both of these albums when they were released, and they both hold a special place in my heart. Wood’s quivering, anxious vocals communicated an earnestness that I found captivating, and made his departure from the group due to struggles with mental health all the more heartbreaking.
Though the loss of Woods was a heavy hit on the group, it was by no means the end for BC, NR. In 2023, they released the live album Live At Bush Hall along with an accompanying concert film. This album boasted a new sound that built off of what the band had established on their previous album but incorporated elements of folk and chamber-pop. While it’s still a good album that demonstrates the staying power of the group, I seldom revisit it save for a few songs. Tracks like “I Won’t Always Love You” and “Laughing Song” made for great moments that showed off the band’s new sound, but I wasn’t as hooked on it as I was with the seamless, memorable melodies of Ants From Up There. Going into this new record without having listened to the singles, I was wondering if my preferences would be challenged in a way that defied my expectations, or if the album would be a taste of a sound I wasn’t crazy over. After some repeated listenings, I can definitively say that BC, NR has won me over with their new direction and affirmed that they are a band that respects their past and continues to look brightly towards their future.
Many of the songwriting and vocal responsibilities have carried over to Georgia Ellery, who is also one half of the art pop duo Jockstrap, as well as May Kershaw. That group’s sole album I Love You Jennifer B demonstrated Ellery’s talents as both a vocalist and a bold songwriter, and much of the same can be said about her work on Forever Howlong. With the help of Kershaw and Tyler Hyde on the songwriting front, the group crafts some of their most elaborate songs yet that, similar to their last album, impress a folksy, baroque sensibility upon listeners. However, I feel that this style has benefitted quite a bit from a proper studio recording as well as more focused thematic elements. Not only do Ellery and Kershaw sound beautiful on this album, they do so while singing about the coming-of-age struggles of adolescence, sexuality, and trust in others.
Songs like “Besties” and “Mary” cover the internal conflicts that come with growing up as a young girl afraid of the scorn of others, whether from sexuality or other personal traits. Like their previous works, the lyrics are often laden with contemporary references like in “Besties” such as “I’m a walking TikTok trend / But the colour runs out in the end”, but these references never feel corny or out-of-place. They help ground the narrator’s experiences in modern times, which contrast with the medieval sounds across the album. Meanwhile, songs like “Happy Birthday” and “Salem Sisters” take aim at privileged, wealthy lifestyles and the presumptions that come with assuming that one is completely protected from the world’s hurts and pains, with lines like “Cheer up child, the world don’t owe you a thing / Who bought you that ring?… / And see the man that you married for money can’t breathe / He’s almost dead.”
The subject matters in these tracks tow a fine line between innocence in their observations and anxiety in the situations that characters find themselves in and how they ultimately end up. The songs “Two Horses” and “Nancy Tries to Take The Night” discuss themes of betrayal at the hands of a lover and the internal fears of an unexpected pregnancy, respectively. Both of these songs are a testament to the group’s storytelling capabilities, as these narratives build to their climaxes in harmonious unison with the instrumentals. These songs are often filled with whimsy, yearning, hesitance and curiosity of the world, but are also aware of the evils and follies that come with intimacy and from the scorn of other people.
Moving onto the music, this is perhaps BC, NR’s most progressive rock-influenced album yet. Many of these songs like “For The Cold Country” and the aforementioned “Two Horses” have winding progressions that combine elements of their past albums such as familiar riffs and sax playing that embellishes the already pretty melodies. On top of that, however, they engage with sounds that they haven’t utilized before such as with harpsichords, mandolins and recorders. This makes for an album that is incredibly rich in its instrumentation and sounds more lush than their previous record which had a similar sound.
There’s an almost regal feel to much of this album that, when combined with the folksier passages, feels akin to a fairy tale. Tales of knights and guiding horses through the windy nights are lumped together with stories of young love and innocence, resulting in their most approachable set of songs thus far in their discography. However, the band makes plenty of room for cacophonous moments as well, and there are plenty of moments where the instrumentation comes together for disquieting, chaotic climaxes like with “For The Cold Country.” There are a few tracks that feel either too unexplored or might need another listen to fully catch on with listeners such as the title track and “Salem Sisters.” However, the musicality at play in these songs should be enough to keep audiences coming back for more.
Much like with Ants From Up There and Live At Bush Hall, BC, NR comes through with a sound that harkens back to the baroque pop indie acts of the early aughts like Arcade Fire, but do so on their own terms. While fans who fell in love with their sound on their early releases may struggle to get behind another project in this style, it’s clear they’ve improved upon what they established with their last record thanks to studio production and a stronger focus on storytelling. Even in this album’s ugliest moments, there’s an undeniable beauty and orchestrated sophistication behind it all. Some of the best tracks on Forever Howlong prove to be their most elaborate, detailed and triumphant ones they’ve written so far, and it does a better job at selling me on the new direction the band is going in. Even a whole decade after the Windmill Scene started, bands like BC, NR are still coming through with unique rock sounds that assert the scene’s influence in modern day indie rock.
