London chaos punk symphony Black Country, New Road have shown a penchant for cinematic exploration. The video the septet put out for previous single “Concorde,” was a delightful twist on an alien abduction. But beyond their visuals, their music is a deeply concocted web of sounds that each have a distinct relationship with each other.
Enter “Snow Globes,” the latest single from Black Country, New Road’s upcoming album out next month, Ants From Up There. The sprawling number has an epic feel, as if it’s giving rise to the denouement of the album in which it belongs. Instruments run parallel to each other, creating a sonic mesh that’s clearly part of a bigger story.
Drummer Charlie Wayne explained in a statement how a certain Frank Ocean tune played into the construction of the song:
“Rather than writing a song with a number of distinct sections we wanted to see what we could do with one continuous riff. It was a real exploration in trying to create something maximalist whilst limiting ourselves with minimal musical choices.
Because the melodic instruments are all playing the riff in unison, Snow Globes left the drums with an interesting opportunity. The drums don’t sit separately from the rest of the band on Snow Globes, but we wanted to use them in a way that we hadn’t in the past. The initial idea was to feel like the drums were recorded for a completely separate track. They were meant to be totally arrhythmic and just sort of bubble below the surface — like at the end of White Ferrari. As the song progressed the drums still occupy a slightly different sound world, but because the rest of the band is playing in such a syncopated style, the drums were given a space to disregard rhythm and be completely expressive.”
Listen to “Snow Globes” above.
Ants From Up There is out 2/4 via Ninja Tune. Pre-order it here.