Big Special – O’Joy! Review

Consistency is key. The volume of work Big Special has released over these last few years has, thankfully, been matched by a constant quality. We’re in safe hands with O’Joy!, an extended play project from the band so soon after the release of National Average. Their second album may be a piece of the past, but Big Special has kept themselves present and thinking ahead with this release. Irrespective of the quality within O’Joy!, the contrast on the front cover is nothing short of magnificent. How can we feel the joy of the world around us when it’s drab and grey and often not worth experiencing? Big Special endeavours to find out with this EP, and they get closer than most in solving the modern-day problems. Post-industrial woes were discussed well by the band’s debut, and their second album delivered a nervy adjustment to how we view the mannerisms of a country that has bled into national identity. O’Joy is an extension of that, a perspective on where we are, and how we got there.  

Peculiar it may be for a band to throw nine songs together and call it an EP when it’s longer than some albums, this is a strong project. Big Special has blossomed well over the last few years. They’re a solid addition to a growing concern from rising stars like Yard Act and Benefits, putting the truth into the spotlight and beating it until it shows us a bit of reality. O’Joy! does just that. They do sound Yard Act-adjacent on opener Plaintive Native, a song that brings about a sinister spoken word style with great instrumental momentum. Moody, brutal, and gutsy work from the duo. Obvious observations are made on Only Free When Sleeping. Advertisers cannot make it into your dreams but they can spread across this page like an infectious disease with no way of stopping it. Apologies, but there are things out of our control. Big Special makes no apology for their commentary, nor should they. They’re a duo whose statements are backed by a belief, that gut feeling of the world around us getting worse.  

Lazarus may ring a bell for fans of the band. John Grant proves to be a wonderful addition to the song, which was released last year. O’Joy! feels like both a chance to collect the spare parts and a celebration of very strong work. Much of O’Joy! gives listeners more of what they would expect from Big Special. Menacing, low humming moments of instrumental splendour. Garden of Fools is a vicious but quietly creepy piece of work that highlights what the band has done so well for two years now. This EP is a celebration of what is going well for the band and there’s a few moments that experiment that little bit more with where their wordplay and work can go from here. They’re sounding confident in of themselves and that begins to show in the sparse style of Garden of Fools.  

What follows is an exceptional instrumental switch-up that may define the band better in the long run. It may feel tricky to take a step back from the horrors of the world around us but Big Special implores us to do so, because it adds a perspective about the horrors unfolding. It isn’t as bad as they may feel it to be, though it can’t get much worse. What comes through on O’Joy! is that the systems once in place to help people through hardships, be it community or the commonly held belief that it’ll get better, have been lost. Big Special does not relish or revel in the opportunity to explore this, but somebody needs to, and few are doing it as well as the duo does here. A sobering experience for those who find themselves kicked when already down.