Black Country New Road

Black Country, New Road announce debut album for Ninja Tune, share new song

Black Country, New Road
photo by Maxwell Granger

UK experimental rock band Black Country, New Road have been one of the Speedy Wunderground-affiliated bands gaining buzz lately (alongside black midi, Squid, and others), and now they’ve signed to Ninja Tune for their 2021 debut album. It’s called For the first time, and it’s due February 5 via their new label home. They made it with Andy Savours (who’s worked with My Bloody Valentine, Sigur Ros, The Killers, and more), and it features new versions of early singles “Sunglasses” and “Athens, France,” along with four new songs. “We wanted it to sound exactly how we love to sound live,” said saxophonist Lewis Evans, and frontman Isaac Wood added, “This is basically representative of our first 18 months.”

“We see this as being a stop in the road,” Isaac continues. “I’ve always been interested in a really honest portrayal of what a band is and what they’ve been working on. I think it’s really nice if people can see an artist like: this was them in the early days, this was their next phase and that they’re quite clear and honest about genuine progression as people and musicians.”

Along with the announcement comes new single “Science Fair,” a 6+ minute song that finds BC,NR leaning heavily into their discordant, avant-garde side, but still with a more accessible post-punk side worked in too. It comes with a Bart Price-directed video, and you can check it out below.

Black Country New Road

Tracklist
1. Instrumental
2. Athens, France
3. Science Fair
4. Sunglasses
5. Track X
​6. Opus