Nolan James
Arts & Culture/Opinion Editor
“Black Country, New Road are the saviors of rock,” they said. “They’re basically the second-coming of Christ in music-form,” some of them even exclaimed—“them” being white guys who really need to just get over her.
Ants From Up There is a good album but a deeply flawed one. Their debut album For the First Time was one of the stronger releases of last year, and this one has been hyped up even more. But it is not a masterpiece by any means.
One of the major criticisms of For the First Time was that it was basically just ripping off famous post-rock band Slint. That criticism was correct. Ants From Up There alleviates this issue by ripping off a few other bands too. Arcade Fire was a big influence, but they have not made good music in over a decade, so maybe that was not the best decision.
The biggest criticism of For the First Time for many still applies here, and that is lead singer Isaac Wood’s awful vocals. He has no semblance of tune whatsoever, and instead of singing chooses to drunkenly wail over the instruments. It is better here than in the debut because sometimes the emotion in his voice can be powerful. So it is not entirely worthless. Just mostly. Their best song is still probably Instrumental off the debut for reasons that should need no explanation.
There is one song here actually that does compete with that, and it even features Woods’ awful voice. That song is The Place Where He Inserted the Blade, which really has no noticeable issues. Woods is actually somehow tolerable on it, too. Every other song, however, ranges from having some minor issue to being completely worthless.
The latter describes the three-track run from Good Will Hunting to Mark’s Theme. Ants From Up There would have been significantly better if it had been cut down to six songs like its predecessor, but instead the listener is subject to those three worthless tracks and the throwaway 55-second intro.
The rest is alright. They have their minor issues, but at least they are not worthless. Concorde and Bread House may be some of the band’s least instrumentally-ambitious tracks yet, but their melodies and lyricism are some of their strongest. The last two songs, while certainly overlong, build to satisfying climaxes which may be the best moments in the band’s discography thus far.
Speaking of the lyrics, they may be the single biggest improvement over the debut, largely because they do not take themselves too seriously. Not that there are not emotional moments, because there are.There are some potent images describing the difficulties of life and relationships.
However many of the lyrics are stupid to the point of parody. The chorus to Bread Song feels particularly poignant in this regard. It is perhaps a bit too close to MacArthur Park for comfort, and there is no way to pin that as a good thing. Still, overall the lyrics are decent, and not too serious.
As with the previous album, the reason the music works so well is because of the instrumentals. It is noticeably ambitious and unique for an indie rock record, using a variety of string and other orchestral instruments and with a wide array of influences.
Ants From Up There is a pretty decent album. Not a great one, but not really bad either. It has great and unique instrumentation for a rock record, lyrics that are not too serious, yet still emotionally potent at times, and one truly great song. The massive critical acclaim may not be completely warranted, but there is something special here, and hopefully future records are even better.
