The award-winning progressive rock band Big Big Train will release their 15th studio album “The Likes of Us” on March 1st, 2024. The album is the internationally-based group’s first full collection of songs since the unexpected passing of long-serving lead vocalist David Longdon in late 2021.
Besides marking the debut of new frontman Alberto Bravin, a former member of the Italian band Premiata Forneria Marconi, “The Likes of Us” also heralds the beginning of a new relationship with InsideOut Music, the group having self-released their music for almost two decades.
The band comments: “We are delighted to announce the release of ‘The Likes of Us’. After the events of the last few years, this is a particularly important album for us, both as a band and individually. We’re very proud of the new songs, which we recorded principally in a studio in Italy. Working together in one room brought additional inspiration, real energy and a clear sense of purpose. We’re thrilled with the results”.
To coincide with this announcement, the band have launched the first single from the album, a track titled “Oblivion”, which the band were seen performing on their UK and European tour in August and September 2023. The video was filmed by Tim Sidwell of Toward Infinity at Urban Recording Studio in Trieste, and you can watch the clip below.
“The Likes of Us” will be released on several different formats, including for the first time as Dolby Atmos mixed by The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord, while the stereo mixes were undertaken by the band’s regular engineer Rob Aubrey together with Alberto Bravin. The Dolby Atmos mix will come as part of the Limited CD & Blu-ray Mediabook edition that also contains the album as 5.1 Surround Sound & 24-bit high-resolution stereo.
The album will also be available as a Gatefold 180g 2LP (available in black, sky blue, olive green and orange formats), Standard CD Jewelcase and Digital Album. The stunning artwork was created by the band’s longstanding collaborator Sarah Louise Ewing, with layouts by Steve Vantsis.
Pre-order & pre-save “The Likes of Us” here.
Tracklist:
1. Light Left in the Day (06:10)
2. Oblivion (05:27)
3. Beneath the Masts (17:26)
4. Skates On (04:28)
5. Miramare (10:17)
6. Love is the Light (06:11)
7. Bookmarks (06:23)
8. Last Eleven (07:55)
In May 2023, six members of Big Big Train left their homes in England (bassist Gregory Spawton, guitarist Dave Foster and violinist Clare Lindley), the United States (drummer Nick D’Virgilio), Sweden (guitarist & keyboardist Rikard Sjöblom) and Norway (keyboardist Oskar Holldorff) to gather for a week in lead vocalist Alberto Bravin’s home town of Trieste in north eastern Italy. They convened at Urban Recording, a studio recommended by Alberto, to lay down the basic tracks for the band’s new studio album “The Likes of Us”. Being face to face in a room, as opposed to emailing sound files, the intimacy of the process generated moments of inspiration that would otherwise have gone unheard.
The process would prove emotional. “There were some tears; I cried a few of my own”, recalls D’Virgilio. “There are many reasons to explain why we hadn’t worked that way in quite a while, but the process brought out the best in everybody”.
“These were stories from our lives and we have a deep, personal connection with them”, Spawton remembers. “If there was blood on the tracks, we did everything possible to let that sink into the music”.
On the group’s most recent tour, two selections from “The Likes of Us” – first single “Oblivion” and “Love is the Light” – were introduced to an ecstatic audience response. During a tidal wave of rebirth and celebration for Big Big Train, Alberto Bravin was accepted as one of the family. Indeed, the chemistry of the band’s latest line-up has delivered mouth-watering results. “We’ve got a great mix of people that want to be here and go the extra mile to do something very special”, D’Virgilio concludes. “There’s a big world of talented musicians out there, and luckily some of them want to hang out with us”.
Line-up:
Alberto Bravin – Lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
Nick D’Virgilio – Drums, percussion, vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar, vocals
Dave Fister – Guitars
Oskar Holldorff – Keyboards, vocals
Clare Lindley – Violin, vocals
Rikard Sjöblom – Guitars, keyboards, vocals
Gregory Spawton – Bass guitar, bass pedals, 12-string acoustic guitar, Mellotron
