We Are There. Modern Studies

I have lost count. Is this Modern Studies' third or fourth album, to be reviewed on this blog as well? And all in about four or five years is my guess. Allow me to check that later. We Are There is here and what an apt title it is. The four piece has released it finest and best balanced album to date.

Was the first album an excuse to write a few songs around an old pump organ singer Emily Scott's found and used on the whole album, it did turn Modern Studies into a band that progressed and now releases We Are There. Do not expect an album on which exiting things happen. Do expect a band that gels on several levels. This includes the band's sound for certain. The level of interaction between the bass, drums and guitars are intricate and rich. All else happening are functional additions in the form of atmospheric sounds or elementary piano chords.

Where the band has definitely made a choice is the duo vocals. Emily Scott and Rob St. John, with their respective high female voice and dark male voice, sing everything together. An integral and central spot in Modern Studies' sound they have become. Always serious, there's no change there. This is how they sound. It is in the songs themselves that songs can expand. Take 'Wild Ocean' where an instrumental part is allowed to meander and make the song explore unexpected sides and influence the mood of We Are There even further.

Promo photo

It is in moments like this I realise the steps Modern Studies has made as a band. Musically there is a strong folk streak in the band's music, of course it was there already. Listening to the singles a band like Chalk Horse Music releases, there is certainly a kinship there. Over the album the ghost of Leonard Cohen is present. I can hear him mumble all the songs here and enrich his own oeuvre. Yes, enrich, you read right.

All this results in a beautiful ballad like 'Open Face' with lush violins weaving in and out of the song and each other and slow piano notes. 'Won't Be Long is even more impressive and when the band is able to produce 'Mothlight' in which it plays a Modern Studies kind of rock, the album becomes much more varied than I had ever expected during the first five songs. 'Do You Wanna' even lets the light in. This has to do with the fact that Emily Scott sings solo here. It really changes the mood immediately.

Through the years Modern Studies has surprised me with each album. We Are There is its fourth since 2017. I am going to enjoy this album for quite some time.

Wout de Natris