Black Country, New Road

Today, 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 on Ninja Tune. Alongside the new song, the band have also announced details of a new intimate run of UK live shows to take place in April 2025, in which they will perform the album in full to celebrate it's release. These dates will come ahead of their US, EU, and UK tours, which are set to take place later this year.

"Forever Howlong" is the band's first studio release since 2022's UK #3 album “Ants From Up There”, which gave them 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’ being inspired by "Besties" is a perfect example of how songs on Forever Howlong are connected in spirit and tone but still feel like very standalone pieces of work. The former slowly builds over sprightly piano keys and laid-back guitar, with Hyde lyrically tapping into the frustrations of generational differences with younger people and their need to wake up from their own self-absorption, before it creeps into something quietly yet potently euphoric.

“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.


As with the songs from their “Live at Bush Hall” release, Black Country, New Road, who in 2024 sold out dates across the US earlier in the Spring and performed at Coachella, Glastonbury, Primavera, Green Man, and Pitchfork London, have been road testing material from "Forever Howlong" on stage across the year. Through fan recordings and the band's own constant reinvention, these songs have largely taken shape in plain sight and with the full support of their international fanbase. Despite moving swiftly on after each record, and never having conventionally toured in support of a studio album, the band’s fervent following has only grown and grown regardless.

The band will take to the road again in 2025 in support of the album. Dates will start with the aforementioned UK tour in April, ahead of the band's US dates, as well as festival appearances at Pitchfork Music Festival CDMX, Primavera Sound, Paredes De Coura, Lowlands, and End Of The Road, plus a full UK / EU tour in September and October, ending on their biggest headliner yet at London's O2 Brixton Academy.