Black Country, (On the) New Road
We meet our protagonist at a small pub in Brixton, The Windmill, where London’s underground indie scene has flourished since 2002. Here, bands such as black midi, Squid, and Black Country, New Road got their start.
Tyler Hyde, Lewis Evans, Georgia Ellery, May Kershaw, Charlie Wayne, and Isaac Wood founded their band in 2018. They met in high school classes and through Brixton's indie punk/rock scene. Thanks to the “random article” button on Wikipedia, Black Country, New Road got its name, and the rest was history.
Over time, the band has seen some changes. They added their seventh member, guitarist Luke Mark, in 2019. In 2022, in true British rock-band fashion, the original frontman, Isaac Wood, left the band and started a solo career. Wood left just days before the release of their sophomore album, Ants From Up There, in 2022. It featured him as the sole singer, his voice and songwriting consistently harrowing, with a much heavier, rock instrumentation. Four years later, BCNR has reinvented its sound. In 2025, they released their third album, Forever Howlong, an eclectic and whimsy shift for the group, drawing now from art pop and folk music.
Esteemed music critics (rateyourmusic.com users) consider this album a generally strong “Isaac-less incarnation” of their sound. It blends folk, pastoral, art rock, Baroque, and progressive music. The band’s ability to shape-shift and bounce back, à la Joy Division, is commendable. Their new album nods to British folk music; full of woodwind instruments and violins, taking their sound into chamber rock territory. In preparation for the show, I listened to it over a couple of times, especially digging tracks #1, #5, and #9, “Besties,” Two Horses,” and “Nancy Tries to Take The Night.”
Forever Howlong is now making its rounds on stages everywhere. Halfway across the globe, Black Country, New Road, has made their live debut in our city of Miami.
The host for the night, the North Miami Beach Bandshell, has proved time and time again to be one of the most versatile venues in South Florida. A consistent breeze flowed through the partially outdoors, open-air venue, saving the audience from the humidity and heat that hang over Miami nights. The crowd was made up of all ages, and I mean truly, all ages.
While chatting with my neighbors, I met John, who was accompanying his stepson to the show. John and I tried our hands at guessing the crowd’s age range, but we came to no formal conclusion.
The show started promptly with opener Lily Seabird. Seabird’s 4-piece band warmed up the crowd with her powerful voice and distorted guitar tones. As her set ended, the 6 members of Black Country, New Road walked onstage without a word.
We didn’t know it yet – but this would become a recurring theme.
Throughout the show, the band stopped to speak a total of three times. Once in the middle of the set to tell us it was their first time in Miami, once to speak out about political issues, and once, right at the end, to thank everyone for coming.
Other than those short pauses, BCNR delivered one continuous, blended set. There was never a flub or a misstep, at least not to the audience’s eye. Each transition was well-rehearsed, and each note was carefully placed.
I was impressed not only by how clean the set was, but also by how many instruments each member plays. During the first talking break, Tyler Hyde (Bassist and Vocalist) made a quick joke about each member playing at least two instruments. And it was true.
The band’s sound consists of:
Tyler Hyde on vocals, electric bass guitar (sometimes played with a bow), and tenor recorder. Georgia Ellery on vocals, violin, and tenor recorder. May Kershaw on vocals, keys, accordion, one song on bass, and tenor recorder. Lewis Evans on vocals, saxophone, flute, and tenor recorder. Luke Mark on guitar and, yes, tenor recorder. Charlie Wayne on drums and, you guessed it, tenor recorder!
The clean arrangements and complex harmonic elements come as no surprise, as many of the musicians in the band studied jazz and classical music at prestigious music schools in England. You can hear these influences in songs like “Salem Sisters” off of Forever Howlong. The song travels through many sections, including hits and unison lines. During the groove and time changes, each instrumentalist held it down, and the singers danced together with the melody and seamless harmony stacks.
The set took audiences on one long journey through Forever Howlong and put us all into a trance-like state. Black Country, New Road created a beautiful and welcoming atmosphere at the Bandshell. Everyone smiled and danced, their music feeling like an hour and a half of magic. I found myself getting lost in the instrumentals, often having to snap myself back to Earth. They’ve cracked the formula: windy night, chamber rock, tenor recorders, and British charm. Emphasis on the tenor recorders.
If there is a Black Country, New Road show near you, you know what to do!