The journey BIG SPECIAL have been on is one of the key stories told by their second album, National Average. And trust Big Special to invest those stories with wisdom, insight and the most absolute humanity. And these might be their stories, but the lessons speak to us all. And so National Average reflects the world as it is, as Big Special have seen it while grinding around the nation and screaming their poetry at the people. The album also registers how their own lives, their own world has changed, and what that means. With characteristic Big Special flair, the darkness is leavened by more than a ladle-full of the blackest humour. But the upbeats are easily matched by the album’s downbeats, the album’s emotional shifts more crafted than on the debut. “The first half of the album is about ambition – you can hear the confidence of it, even a little bit of sleaze,” says Hicklin. “The second half is about reflecting on what’s happened, how everything’s changed. You’ve got to be honest with the darkness.”