Black Country, New Road - “Sunglasses”

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 4

Pairs Well With…Wire, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Comet Is Coming

“Sunglasses” is perhaps the track that covers the most musical ground amongst the early SXSW 2020 roster, a post-punk monster of storytelling and noise. Budding over nine minutes, the latest single from Black Country, New Road, only the second release from the UK newcomers, starts unassumingly with a gentle, repeating alt-rock guitar line. A spoken-word vocal begins to accompany the hypnotic melody, sharing abstract and personal frames of reference alike. Another left turn arrives two minutes into the track, with jazzy saxophone lines descending “Sunglasses” into more cacophonous sounds and moods. Soon pained screams, free jazz association, and punk-rock madness take over the song, ending in a place that only makes sense knowing we we began. Seeping with confidence and musical guts, Black Country, New Road is immediately exciting even while their music can seem challenging at first listen. Imaginably the seven-piece will have more music and hopefully even a full-length release in store for 2020, but if their sound translates at all live as it does on record, look for Black Country, New Road to be a SXSW breakout nonetheless after this March. (Kevin McStravick)