BIG SPECIAL – ONLY FREE WHEN SLEEPING
Duo Big Special — vocalist Joe Hicklin and drummer Callum Moloney — share “Only Free When Sleeping” alongside news of their new EP O’Joy!, out 5 June via SO Recordings. The ten-track project gathers material from sessions for both their 2024 debut Postindustrial Hometown Blues and last year’s second album National Average: songs that didn’t fit the tone of either record at the time, reworked in the studio and given their space. Three singles have already surfaced from it — “Sluglife”, “Plaintive Native”, and “Dragged Up A Hill (and Thrown Down the Other Side)”. “Only Free When Sleeping” is the fourth.
The band describe O’Joy! as “the fallen parts of our first two albums” and frame it clearly as a clearing exercise: get the songs out, clean the board, move on. There’s a candour to how they talk about why these tracks exist — too dark, too long, would have tipped the balance — and that same quality is in the single. “Only Free When Sleeping” is what they call a “head-down walking song”: the feeling of moving through a day when everything feels bad, finding temporary relief in sleep, then getting up and doing it again. Distorted guitar, Hicklin’s direct vocal, a refrain that cuts through without trying to be clever about it. The track earns its bleakness rather than performing it, which is the difference with Big Special when they’re working well.
O’Joy! is dedicated to the memory of their friend Handsome James Borrer, who is also the subject of a tribute show at London’s O2 Indigo in July. The band is heading into a busy festival summer, with appearances at Bearded Theory, TRNSMT, Boomtown, Beautiful Days, and more, followed by US dates supporting Lambrini Girls in the autumn including Shaky Knees in Atlanta. Picking up the pen in the first place is an act of hope, as they put it. The songs back that up.
Tracklist:
- **
- Plaintive Native
- Only Free When Sleeping
- Lazarus
- The Wake
- Family Bones
- Garden of Fools
- Sluglife
- Dragged Up A Hill (and thrown down the other side)
- Hotel
Tour Dates:
Europe:
- 21.05.2026 — Derbyshire, UK — Bearded Theory Festival
- 12.06.2026 — Devon, UK — Bradninch Music Festival
- 20.06.2026 — Glasgow, UK — TRNSMT Festival
- 13.07.2026 — London, UK — O2 Indigo (James Borrer tribute concert)
- 31.07.2026 — Bristol, UK — Valley Festival
- 08.08.2026 — Muros, ES — Castelo Rock Festival
- 14-16.08.2026 — Hampshire, UK — Boomtown Festival
- 22.08.2026 — Devon, UK — Beautiful Days Festival
- 04.09.2026 — Birmingham, UK — Moseley Folk Festival
North America:
- 20.09.2026 — Atlanta, GA — Shaky Knees Music Festival
- 27.09.2026 — Indianapolis, IN — The Vogue ^ Lambrini Girls
- 28.09.2026 — Detroit, MI — Majestic Theatre ^ Lambrini Girls
- 29.09.2026 — Chicago, IL — The Vic Theatre ^ Lambrini Girls
- 01.10.2026 — Kansas City, MO — Granada ^ Lambrini Girls
- 02.10.2026 — St. Louis, MO — Delmar Hall ^ Lambrini Girls
- 05.10.2026 — Asheville, NC — Orange Peel ^ Lambrini Girls
