60. Black Country New Road - "Ants from up There"

As you are probably getting the distinct impression, I adore music that confounds expectations. Black Country New Road absolutely floored me last year with “For the First Time”. It was a non-linear delight where the closest comparison I could get was The Fall goes new jazz. “Ants from up There”, sees the band try to restrain their anarchistic tendencies a little. It has more structure and is certainly significantly more commercial than its predecessor. They have swapped their Mark E Smith obsession for a serious crush on Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. 

What it does share with its brethren though is oodles of inventive creativity. Nothing feels formulaic here, instead, every track routinely forges new ground and makes its own set of rules. There are points where it all feels very disparate and then it all blends together to actually become a single melodic whole. A stunningly innovative album that once again gives me a lifeline that there are young people out there who want to do something significantly different with music.