I’ll confess that when I received the new Big Big Train album for review, there was a sneaky side of me that felt resistant to all the changes that I knew would lie within it. Part of me wanted to double down and say that somehow BBT doesn’t exist without the late David Longdon (who wasn’t even the first vocalist). I’m not sure why that was. After hearing one of the singles, though, my mind was freed from that obstinacy, and the album as a whole opened up to me. It is called The Likes of Us, and it releases on March 1st.
This is an album of firsts for BBT, even though they have been around since 1990. The album sees the arrival of their new singer, Alberto Bravin (ex-Premiata Forneria Marconi), who also plays some guitar and keys. His voice proves to be different from Longdon’s in all the right ways, while still being able to handle the past discography. The rest of the lineup for this album includes: Nick D’Virgilio on drums, percussion, and acoustic guitar, Dave Foster on guitars, Oskar Holldorff on keys, Clare Lindley on violin, Rikard Sjöblom on guitars and keys, and Gregory Spawton on bass, acoustic guitar, and mellotron.
This album is also a first in that it is the band’s debut with Inside Out Music. When I heard the news, I immediately felt that this was an excellent match, especially to mark a new era for the band. In keeping with this move, the music has changed somewhat, leaning more into complex progressive rock offerings than the last few BBT albums had given us. The band retains their signature golden, nostalgic, homey feelings, but it does feel more balanced with musical prowess and a global perspective.
The record also feels like a group effort. Alberto is the lead vocalist, obviously, but most of the band offers vocals in one way or another, too. This makes the music feel like a tribute to Longdon in some ways, but it also makes it seem fresh, clean, and focused.
The lyrics add to this in how they balance encouragement with stark truths. For example, the song “Skates On” is a wonderful piece that edifies us to live our lives here and now, while life is here for the living. One moment, it feels encouraging, and the next it feels ponderous with its “we’re here and gone” little hook, and so it seems to celebrate the fragile beauty of living and dying, coming and going. It feels sad and celebratory at the same time, and so much of the album goes.
I was instantly sold on the single “Love is the Light”; this is easily one of my favorite songs of 2024 so far for how pure and beautiful it is. I love the excellent vocal performance from Alberto, and I love the group harmonies near the end. I can’t get enough of it, or its important message, either. “Oblivion” is another single, and it has a wonderfully gracious hook that is an easy sell to BBT fans, and Alberto sings his heart out again. “Miramare” is the single that is perhaps the most complicated, but I find myself liking it more and more; I daresay that it gets a bit heavy in the second half.
There are five other songs on the album, though, and I’m liking them all. I love the opener “Light Left in the Day”, which feels like a statement from the band: first, it immediately brings in Alberto to shine his voice on us, which feels like a literal introduction of sorts, and then the rest of the song is instrumental and fleeting and brilliant. It feels like the band is telling us, “There’s still more steam left in this engine”. “Beneath the Masts” is a favorite, being a 17-minute piece with lots of transitions, some of them rather epic and cinematic, and the last half is particularly good. Your ears will certainly perk up several times when you hear it.
I already mentioned “Skates On”, a meaningful tune with a delicious hook, and that is a favorite of mine. The final two tracks on the album are terrific, too. “Bookmarks” is basically a ballad with lots of violin, and it is truly beautiful; Alberto emotes more on this one than on any other, and it is endearing. The closer “Last Eleven” is a groovy beast of a song that trades between roaring bass and delicate segments. I like how it brings in imagery of being on a journey, and both awaiting and somewhat grieving the arrival.
The Likes of Us is probably a top 5 album for me in BBT’s discography. It has all the color and innocence of their past, but gives us plenty of new ideas and faces to process. It is like being in full sunlight, living gloriously in the fields and rivers of not only England this time, but the world at large. I love the lyrics and performances so much, but the real selling point is how precisely and richly the melodies were composed. I can see this as both a love letter to the fans, and also a station at which new fans can climb aboard.
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