Next year will see new-wave veterans MODERN ENGLISH celebrate their 45th anniversary, and though the ensemble’s timeline was intermittent, it’s as good an excuse for festivities as any, especially when there’s a fresh record to mark the date. Titled “1 2 3 4” and ready for release on February 23rd, the band’s first album in seven years – a full-length studio offering, as 2016 “Take Me To The Trees” was followed by the lockdown version of their 1982 hit “I Melt With You” – features the same foursome who started the ball rolling back in 1979 – vocalist Robbie Grey, guitarist Gary McDowell, bassist Mick Conroy and keyboard player Stephen Walker – with a new drummer, and is produced Mario McNulty who previously worked with David Bowie and Prince. The music must be good, then.
It had a remote-base genesis, so when the Englishman ventured to upstate New York to lay the tracks down, everything was prepared to an extent where they artists needed only a few takes for each cut, with a few overdubs to flesh it all out. Surely, numbers like ironic opener “Long In The Tooth” or politically defiant “Not My Leader” should sound raw – and they do: just listen to the taster below.
1 2 3 4
1. Long In The Tooth
2. Not My Leader
3. Not Fake
4. Exploding
5. Plastic
6. Crazy Lovers
7. I Know Your Soul
8. Genius
9. Out To Lunch
10. Voices
