New Single From Black Country, New Road

Black Country, New Road share a new single titled "Happy Birthday". The track comes on the heels of the announcement of their new album, "Forever Howlong", which is due out April 4th via Ninja Tune.

Forever Howlong is their first studio release since 2022's UK #3 album Ants From Up There, which gave the band their second Top 5 UK album in 12 months alongside their Mercury Prize shortlisted debut For the first time, and follows 2023's Live at Bush Hall, an album The Guardian claimed was a “magical resurgence” in a triumphant five-star review. Now, on studio album three, the band are once again building from the ground up in yet another miraculous musical transformation.

The long-awaited new record was produced by James Ford (Fontaines D.C., Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Blur) and sees Black Country, New Road settled into a new shape in which vocal duties – and most of the song writing – is split between Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery, and May Kershaw. The album was announced alongside it's expansive and joyous opener "Besties", which was met by rapturous praise from both their incredibly dedicated fans and media alike.

"Happy Birthday" sees Black Country, New Road continue to expand upon their captivating dynamism. The track is emblematic of the band's intuitive songwriting relationship under their new configuration and exemplifies a sort of domino effect that developed over their writing sessions. “When I wrote ‘Happy Birthday’ I had Georgia’s song ‘Besties’ in my head while I was writing it," says Hyde. "Therefore, the structure of it is heavily influenced by it.”

“Happy Birthday” is paired with a new stop-motion music video, which follows the journey of two birds in the woods helping one another to escape from hunters. The animation is directed by Lesley-Anne Rose who produces, directs and writes short stop-motion films and short films for television broadcast, gallery exhibitions, and events. She has created content for BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Channel 4, and the BFI, as well music videos for artists like Kathryn Williams and Richard Dawson.

The band’s ability to respond to changing circumstances is not only down to their close-knit friendship but due to their talent, adaptability and long standing relationship together as musicians. A mix of classically trained and self-taught, the multi-instrumentalists gathered steam as a band in the late 2010s, regularly playing The Windmill in Brixton alongside friends and peers such as Squid and Black Midi, and soon found themselves being labelled "the best band in the world" by The Quietus.

Here in 2025, Forever Howlong is an ambitious, meticulously detailed record that includes everything from folk to prog via baroque pop and touches of alt-rock – with nods to everything from Joanna Newsom to Randy Newman via Fiona Apple and Janis Ian – yet all the while retaining that unmistakably unique sound that only this combination of musicians can come up with. Although hugely varied and expansive, the album also feels deeply cohesive and focused, as it takes three distinct voices and styles and seamlessly intersperses them into a new collective sound.

"Happy Birthday" is out NOW from the upcoming Black Country, New Road album "Forever Howlong", out April 4th via Ninja Tune.

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