Song of the Day: Black Country, New Road – “Basketball Shoes”
Released: February 4, 2022
Album: Ants From Up Here
Black Country, New Road arrived on the scene just a couple years ago, meteorically rising up as one of the most exciting rock bands in the UK. Their 2021 debut album For the first time was one of the most thrilling records of the year. Quickly back at it, the band just released their sophomore LP Ants From Up There. In the days leading up to the release, singer/guitarist Isaac Wood announced that he was leaving the band. They say they’ll continue on, but they’ll have a big void to fill. I’m still digesting Ants From Up There. The band amps up their bombastic chamber rock, coming across like a somber Arcade Fire whose grown up on a steady diet of The Fall and other classic UK post-punk. There’s a handful of stellar tracks, album closer “Basketball Shoes” being a standout. It’s a lengthy, sort of proggy song broken into multiple sections, beginning as a slow ballad, building into into angst-fueled bombast before shifting into a swelling Godspeed-esque instrumental. Of the song, the band has stated that it is the centerpiece, around which the rest of the album was written. This live version (above) may be the band’s finest moment.
Part I (3:18 – 5:25)
Concorde flies in my room
Tears the house to shreds
Defines the night as such
A home for us, stick insects
And leaves no trace of luck
At every market town that we intersect
I die like fifteen times
A dark blue stem brings me to their breast
And I’m feeling kinda normal with a packed lunch
Train rides don’t hurt much these days
We’re all working on ourselves, and we’re praying that the rest don’t mind how much we’ve changed
So if you see me looking strange with a fresh style
I’m still not feeling that great
And then it’s in soft-focus all around you
You can’t see the football game
On my dad’s sofa, we are still, and we never look at our phones anymore
Instrumental (5:25 – 6:39)
Part II (6:39 – 7:51)
Oh, I can’t think of anything better
Pick a hair off my sweater
And drown in me
Like boyfriend jeans
Oh, I haven’t felt this way in like ever
I am the convo, you are the weather
And the clamp is a cracked smile cheek
And it tortures me
And I haven’t felt this way in like ever
I am the convo, you are the weather
And the clamp is a cracked smile cheek
And it tortures me
Instrumental (7:51 – 9:46)
Part III (9:46 – end)
In my bedsheets, now wet
Of Charlie, I pray to forget
All I’ve been
Forms the drone, we sing the rest
Oh, your generous loan to me
Your crippling interest
And my bed sheets now wet
Of Charlie, I pray to forget
All I’ve been
Forms the drone, we sing the rest
Oh, your generous loan to me
Your crippling interest
Oh, in my bedsheets, now wet
Of Charlie, I pray to forget
All I’ve been forms the drone, we sing the rest
Oh, your generous loan to me, your crippling interest