Big Special announce debut album Postindustrial Hometown Blues

listen to the new single Dust Off / Start Again, out now

Following on from their whirlwind 2023, DIY Class of 2024 members BIG SPECIAL have confirmed plans to release their debut album, ‘POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES’, on 10th May via So Recordings.

The LP will see the pair merge the personal with the political, using their Black Country roots as a lens through which to explore social disjunction and hope against the odds. Speaking about the inspirations behind the work, lead vocalist Joe Hicklin has said: “’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 album announcement follows a string of singles (including ‘DESPERATE BREAKFAST’ and ‘TREES’), and has now been heralded with the release of another – ‘DUST OFF / START AGAIN’, which serves as a rageful rally against the British class system. Watch its video here: