Black Country, New Road have announced a new album, Forever Howlong, their first studio LP since the departure of singer Isaac Wood in 2022. Following Ants From Up There and 2023’s Live at Bush Hall, the 11-track effort lands on April 4 on Ninja Tune. Today, the band has shared a buoyant new single called ‘Besties’. Check it out below, and scroll down for the album cover, tracklist, and Black Country, New Road’s upcoming tour dates.
Forever Howlong, which was produced by James Ford, sees the band’s Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery, and May Kershaw trading vocal duties. “It created a real through line for the album, having three girls singing,” Ellery commented. “It’s definitely very different to Ants From Up There, because of the female perspective – and the music we’ve made also compliments that.”
A music video for the track, directed by Rianne White, will go live at 5pm GMT. White shared the following statement about the visual:
Besties came into my world with a dance of feelings, with such an understood concept of exploring the core emotion of taking on the world, and its obstacles to be with her, the bestie, again.
Building this with the band took me to so many memories, informed by a collective of experiences from my childhood writing letters and maps to my bestie, into formulating our own map and sliding-doors effect narrative – charged with the instinctual punch and intuition of: I need to be with my bestie now. Working with Georgia, May and Tyler was a real treat across their performances especially, and quite literally, running from the more conventional lip-sync world, and injecting cameo moments with Charlie, Lewis and Luke.
Knee-high in January’s jacket of mud, darkness, fields, street corners and a pack of hounds we found the beating heart of a world made better by chasing love and connection. Shooting in these conditions, and having fun is a real testament to a fantastic team and collective of people! It’s been such a pleasure, this song was love at first harpsichord!
Forever Howlong Cover Artwork:
Forever Howlong Tracklist:
1. Besties
2. The Big Spin
3. Socks
4. Salem Sisters
5. Two Horses
6. Mary
7. Happy Birthday
8. For the Cold Country
9. Nancy Tries to Take the Night
10. Forever Howlong
11. Goodbye (Don’t Tell Me)
Black Country, New Road 2025 Tour Dates:
Sat 7 Jun – Primavera Sound – Barcelona, ES
Fri 15 Aug – Paredes De Coura – Paredes De Coura, PT
Sun 17 Aug – Lowlands Festival – Biddinghuizen, NL
Thu 28 – Sun 31 Aug – End Of The Road – Dorset, UK
Thu 11 Sep – Rock City – Nottingham, UK
Fri 12 Sep – Albert Hall – Manchester, UK
Mon 15 Sep – Olympia – Dublin, IRE
Thu 18 Sep – Barrowland – Glasgow, UK
Sat 20 Sep – The Glasshouse – Gateshead, UK
Mon 22 Sep – Beacon – Bristol, UK
Wed 24 Sep – The Corn Exchange – Cambridge, UK
Thu 9 Oct – Casino De Paris – Paris, FR
Fri 10 Oct – Stereolux – Nantes, FR
Sun 12 Oct – Paradiso – Amsterdam, NL
Tue 14 Oct – Gloria – Cologne, DE
Wed 15 Oct – Astra – Berlin, DE
Fri 17 Oct – Vega – Copenhagen, NL
Sat 18 Oct – Fallan – Stockholm, SWE
Sun 19 Oct – Sentrum Scene – Oslo, NO
Tue 21 Oct – Mojo – Hamburg, GE
Wed 22 Oct – Roxy – Prague, CZ
Thu 23 Oct – Les Docks – Lausanne, SWI
Sat 25 Oct – Magazzini Generali – Milan, ITA
Sun 26 Oct – Epicerie Moderne – Lyon, FR
Tue 28 Oct – Ancienne Belgique – Brussels, BE
Thu 30 Oct – Brighton Dome – Brighton, UK
Fri 31 Oct – O2 Brixton Academy – London, UK