BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD (Brighton Patterns, 19/05/22)

It’s a brave move to ditch two albums-worth of material and start from scratch, but if there was a band to pull it off, it'd be one forged from the ashes of Nervous Conditions. Trad-folk, Poguesy rabble-rousers, bouncy indie-pop, delicate piano numbers and an 80's style power ballad- it felt like a concept album/musical in progress, except less twattish than that sounds. If you much preferred the edginess of 'Science Fair' to ‘Ants From Up There’, this won't be for you, but I have high hopes for this band’s third incarnation- particularly if they bring May, their keyboardist and strongest non-Isaac songwriter, out of the shadows...