BIG SPECIAL drop surprise second album ‘NATIONAL AVERAGE.’

Black Country duo BIG SPECIAL have returned with a bang, having released a brand new album - ‘NATIONAL AVERAGE.’ (out now via SO Recordings) - with only some mysterious projections as warning.

The follow-up to their debut LP, last year’s ‘POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMETOWN BLUES’, this new record sees the pair expand on their potent, poetry-punk foundations to incorporate elements of funk, whilst thematically the 13-track project mediates on brotherhood and being there for each other amidst periods of change and upheaval.

Rather than tease the release over a period of months, the band instead opted to drop ‘NATIONAL AVERAGE.’ as a surprise, only hinting that something big might be on its way by splashing projections of the album’s artwork - a plate of egg and chips, naturally - across notable London tourist attractions, including Buckingham Palace, The Tate Modern, London Bridge, and Shoreditch High Street tube station.

Speaking about the LP, lead vocalist Joe Hicklin has explained: “‘NATIONAL AVERAGE.’ is an album about the multitudes of a normal life as it begins to change. It’s about the stages of reflection on an average life as it moves further away. It’s about personal and political problems remaining the same as a life changes around them and they all begin to weave together.”

You can check out the record’s lead single, ‘GOD SAVE THE PONY’, and find out where to catch BIG SPECIAL live on their forthcoming instore tour below.