Big Special Continue To Tease Debut Album With New Single Black Dog / White Horse
Tuesday, 02 April 2024
Written by Laura Johnson
Photo: Isaac Watson
Big Special have released a new single.
Black Dog / White Horse is the latest track to be lifted from their debut album, 'Postindustrial Hometown Blues', which is due to arrive on May 10. It's driven by sparse drums and bass, allowing lead singer Joe Hicklin's captivating, yet understated vocals to take centre stage. He said:
"BLACK DOG / WHITE HORSE is about fear, about rumination, intrusive thoughts and cycles of depression. It’s about trying to figure out how to reach out when feelings of guilt and shame take hold. It’s about recognising these things in others, noticing the lost and undervalued, and their increasing numbers.
"It comes from a thing I wrote years ago, about a burning snake traveling in the hot sun and a small wren flying high above it to block the heat and give it shade, taking the burden of the sun, because the little bird loves the snake and won’t see it defeated, for whatever reason."
About the new record, he continued: “POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES is an album about depression. It's about the different shapes it takes; personal, social, generational... and it's about coming face to face with those ghosts and what we do or how we feel when that happens.
"The album offers no answers, it is just an honest expression of a working-class experience in modern England through the eyes of ill mental health, a pursuit of art and political disenchantment; a story of rumination, realisation and reaction.
"POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES is about learning that we are connected by our common struggles and though dark and rageful, the album holds a quiet sentiment of love and hope. It's about laughing at the face of the void, recognising its oppressive weight, holding hands and moving forward.”
The band, completed by drummer Callum Moloney, will support their new album with a UK and European tour of the same name, which will include UK and Ireland shows later this spring, UK and European festival appearances this summer, and an autumn London show at the O2 Forum Kentish Town on November 30.
Prior to that, they'll hit the road for the DIY Now & Next Tour between April 3 and 7. Tickets for all dates are on sale now.
Big Special Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Wed April 03 2024 - CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach
Thu April 04 2024 - OXFORD Bullingdon
Fri April 05 2024 - SHEFFIELD Yellow Arch Studio
Sat April 06 2024 - BRIGHTON Green Door Store
Sun April 07 2024 - SOUTHAMPTON Joiners
Tue May 07 2024 - LIVERPOOL District
Wed May 08 2024 - LEEDS Key Club
Thu May 09 2024 - BIRMINGHAM XOYO
Fri May 10 2024 - GLASGOW King Tuts
Sat May 11 2024 - LIVERPOOL Jacaranda
Sun May 12 2024 - BRISTOL Bristol Strange Brew
Thu May 16 2024 - LONDON Jazz Cafe
Sat May 18 2024 - MANCHESTER Deaf Institute
Mon May 20 2024 - LIMERICK Kasbah Club
Tue May 21 2024 - DUBLIN Workmans Club
Wed May 22 2024 - BELFAST Ulster Sports Bar
Sat November 30 2024 - LONDON O2 Forum Kentish Town
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