O’Joy arrives not as a mere collection of B-sides, but as a deliberate act of creative liberation. For a band like Big Special, who have spent the last few years on a meteoric, relentless rise, this EP is about shaking off old baggage, old lyrics, and old journeys to give Joe Hicklin and Callum Moloney a completely fresh start for their future endeavours. It is a companion piece to the work that has defined them so far, but crucially, it’s a project meant to free them from the shackles of the past.
Joe Hicklin and drummer Callum Moloney describe O’JOY!,
“We picked them up and took them back to the studio to rework and play with them to make them into their own piece of work that reflects upon what we have done so far. The songs that didn’t fit in the right place at the right time. Including songs that, at the time, might’ve made the albums too long and lean too far into a darker tone, where we wanted to keep the balance of an emotional journey, like watching a movie with your eyes closed”.
So they made O’JOY!
For the diehards, certain corners of this EP will bring a heavy sense of familiarity, but with a twist. Take “Stay Down, Lazarus”, here, we are treated to the purely original, isolated version of the track, completely omitting the baritone guest features of John Grant. Stripped back to its core, it sits alongside a ruthless run of singles including “Plaintive Native,” “Sluglife,” and the beautifully delivered, bruising epic that is “Dragged Up A Hill (and thrown down the other side).”
There is something so incredibly refreshing about watching a band intentionally empty their souls like this. It feels less like a traditional release and more like a deeply cathartic act of preparation, a reincarnation of sorts. By wiping the slate completely clean of past creative work, Big Special have set the stage for what will undoubtedly be an exciting, stomping, working-class poetic emotional outburst in the future. It’s a clean slate, a violent rebirth, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what they do with it.
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