Modern English is excited to announce the release of ‘1 2 3 4’ on February 23rd – the legendary British new wave/post-punk band’s first album of new material in eight years. Produced by Mario J. McNulty (David Bowie, Lou Reed, Nine Inch Nails), mixed by Cenzo Townsend, and mastered at Abbey Road, the record retains the intrinsic spirit of its early post-punk days, and is also a sterling sonic example of what Modern English have always done best.
The album encompasses seething songs with a punk bite (‘Long in The Tooth,’ ‘Plastic’), keyboard-forward melodic rockers (‘Not Fake,’ ‘Crazy Lovers’) and simmering, darkwave-meets-post-punk gems (‘Exploding’, ‘Out to Lunch’). With a touch of subtle themes lifted from ‘After the Snow’ (1982) and ‘Ricochet Days’ (1984) that include the environment, aging, failed relationships, love and more, ‘1 2 3 4’ finds the legendary band delving into nostalgia but, as always, exploring new creative territory. With singles ‘Long in the Tooth’ and ‘Crazy Lovers’ released in advance of the announcement, today the band offers ‘Not My Leader,’ a scathing observation on politics in both the U.S. and the UK and how they aren’t dissimilar.
“I remember first coming to America in the early-’80s,” frontman Robbie Grey recalls. “We had Margaret Thatcher and you had Ronald Reagan. And then fast forward to today to Donald Trump and all the politicians and corporate organizations that have followed — along with their corruption and greed. It’s the same thing 40 years later, really. It’s the same old shit that makes the ordinary person feel sick. ‘Not My Leader’ is a song against those people.”
Founding members Robbie Grey (vocals/guitar) and Mick Conroy (bass) started coming up with the music for ‘1 2 3 4’ during the spring 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, swapping ideas back and forth remotely. Conroy set up a temporary home studio in Suffolk, England, with gear arranged in a tiny kitchen area (“Once I’d set up, that meant you couldn’t open the fridge door,” he says) and found himself inspired by the first Siouxsie and The Banshees album as well as David Bowie records featuring Mick Ronson.
After having amassed a batch of fresh songs, restrictions loosened enough so Modern English could gather together and go over this new music. The band deliberately went for a “raw-sounding affair” that was “more energetic,” Conroy says, and recorded the album in just a few takes with minimal overdubs in a residential studio in upstate New York. “We wanted some edge to it,” Grey says. “Live drums and getting the feel of moving from verse to chorus with everyone playing. It sounds like a live album.”
Grey also says his lyrics on the record are thematically in line with other Modern English albums. “For me, as a lyricist, it’s always about personal journeys, or the journey of the band, or just getting pissed off with governments and politicians,” he says. As an example, he cites the pointed ‘Not My Leader,’ inspired by the fact that “it seemed that everybody in charge of the world was completely incompetent,” as he puts it. Other favorites include ‘Not Fake’ (“I like quoting all the things I don’t like,” he says with a laugh) and ‘Long In the Tooth,’ a song about getting older. “It says what it needs to and it gets its message across. For a lyricist, that’s a very important thing.”
The band’s keen sense of dynamics is also evident throughout the album. The album-closing ‘Voices’ is particularly subdued, bolstered by echoing, Doppler-like sound effects and Grey’s somber vocals; the effect falls somewhere between spacey psychedelic rock and tranquil shoegaze. “With Modern English, we start off with an idea and then we go off on slight tangents,” says Conroy. “But there’s always one or two songs that don’t sound anything like punk rock. They sound like Modern English.”
‘1 2 3 4’ tracklist:
01. Long In The Tooth
02. Not My Leader
03. Not Fake
04. Exploding
05. Plastic
06. Crazy Lovers
07. I Know Your Soul
08. Genius
09. Out To Lunch
10. Voices