They say it takes a lifetime to write your first album, then six months to write your second. Presumably, the latter only happens if the former generates enough of a splash, certainly the case for ‘Post Industrial Hometown Blues’, last year’s fine ode to not-so-quiet desperation, the debut release from West Midlands troubadours Big Special.
True to their word, following a recent Plus One interview promising new material before the year was out, what is remarkable with ‘National Average’ is that the release came so soon and represents such a big leap forward in terms of accomplishment.
Things are happening quickly for Joe Hicklin and Callum Moloney, and this record strikes while the iron is hot and the pen is hotter, a veritable tsunami of musings, testament to the rock and roll rollercoaster they’ve just unleashed.
The overriding thought from the opening listen concerns the groove on the supremely catchy lead-off single ‘God Save The Pony,’. It’s fucking funky as fucking fuck, whilst oozing buckets of self-deprecation, the duo finding their feet within an industry never knowingly undersold in terms of pretentiousness. ‘Hug A Bastard’ takes a spoonful of Gorillaz slinkiness, the listener unsure whether to laugh or cry at one of Hicklin’s typical yam yam tinged outbursts, “Find God? Mate, I can’t find my keys, been round the gaff on my knees,” we’ve all been there.
The new album gives the impression of having coalesced organically in double-quick time too, no doubt thanks to a couple of years of incessant touring. We’re treated to bawdy tales from on the road, the strange novelty of newfound success, a couple of Black Country lads suddenly handed the keys to the sweet shop and what that brings with it. Conversely, we still get a flavour of what achievement doesn’t manage to solve, the scourge of fragile mental health, never too far away, perhaps fuelled in this instance by guilt. This is startlingly encapsulated in the upbeat ‘Judas Song’, Wakemanesque keyboard frills betraying a dark underbelly, precluding Hicklin’s gloom “I’ll spill blood to stay in bed”, we’ve all been there too.
Words by Michael Price.
Big Special official
TRACKLISTING
1. THE MESS.
2. GOD SAVE THE PONY.
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