Big Special announce debut album ‘POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES’
The Black Country duo's first LP is being previewed by first single 'DUST OFF / START AGAIN'.
Black Country duo Big Special have confirmed details of their debut album, POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES, and shared its first single.
The album will be released on May 10 via via SO Recordings, and is being previewed today by first single ‘DUST OFF / START AGAIN’.
Discussing the new track, vocalist Joe Hicklin said: “’DUST OFF / START AGAIN’ is a bolt of cursed vomit, spewed into a stewpot of English class issues regarding housing, ownership, mental illness, appropriation and human rights. It’s about the disregard for the common man. And how it is expected of anyone, regardless of their situation, to carry on, struggle through and go to work.
“It’s about how the privileged and powerful attempt to define, debate and justify the social positions of all whilst the ideals of our governing systems are pressed upon the working-class youth, so that they quietly accept their role as a commodity and place blame on each other, as they wave the flag that keeps them down.”
Watch the video for the new track below.
Discussing the new album as a whole, Hicklin added: “POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES is an album about depression. It’s about the different shapes it takes; personal, social, generational… and it’s about coming face to face with those ghosts and what we do or how we feel when that happens.
“The album offers no answers, it is just an honest expression of a working-class experience in modern England through the eyes of ill mental health, a pursuit of art and political disenchantment; a story of rumination, realisation and reaction.”
He added: “POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES is about learning that we are connected by our common struggles and though dark and rageful, the album holds a quiet sentiment of love and hope. It’s about laughing at the face of the void, recognising its oppressive weight, holding hands and moving forward.”
See the artwork and tracklist for POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES below. Big Special will tour the UK in April and May and you can buy tickets here.
1. ‘BLACK COUNTRY GOTHIC’
2. ‘I MOCK JOGGERS’
3. ‘DESPERATE BREAKFAST’
4. ‘SHITHOUSE’
5. ‘THIS HERE AIN’T WATER’
6. ‘MY SHAPE (BLOCKING THE LIGHT)’
7. ‘BLACK DOG / WHITE HORSE’
8. ‘BROADCAST: TIME AWAY’
9. ‘iLL.’
10. ‘MONGREL’
11. ‘BUTCHER’S BIN’
12. ‘DUST OFF / START AGAIN’
13. ‘TREES’
14. ‘FOR THE BIRDS’
15. ‘DiG!’
Earlier this year, the duo also appeared in Rolling Stone UK’s Ones To Watch for 2024.
“This Midlands duo appeared in our last issue, but following their sold-out UK tour last December, we truly believe that they’re going to define 2024,” we said.
“Singer Joe Hicklin and drummer Callum Moloney are raising a scalpel to the tumultuous times we’re living in and dissecting them in forensic detail. Pounding synths combined with more soulful moments help Hicklin’s state-of-the-nation lyrics hit home. In 2024, expect them to resonate even more with the UK’s tired and weary population. (NR)”