Modern Studies are a band that with roots in Scotland and Lancashire. The group's put out a few albums already but, if I was honest, I'd say that the newest one, The Weight of the Sun, is the one I've enjoyed the most. This newest offering, out now via Fire Records, is tuneful and remarkably warm. And I mean warm in a way that suggests earlier eras, when indie bands favored directness over irony.
"Heavy Water" recalls American bands like The Reivers, for those of you old enough to remember them, and even Yo La Tengo, while "Corridors" is even better, shades of Joni Mitchell here on this one. Modern Studies favor an approach that's organic, for lack of a better term. One doesn't hear anything here that's like a sample or keyboard, and the instruments mesh gently and sometimes roughly with the vocals of the players. While "Shape of Light" faintly echoes late-period material from Crime & The City Solution, the catchy "The Blue of Distance" is the real highlight here, along with "Run for Cover", a lead single.
Modern Studies aren't doing anything earthshaking here, but the music is affecting. I suppose reviewers like me might reach for a comparison-point or two to describe this. And I suppose I might reach (again) to The Delgados but this is lighter music in many ways. The prowess of Emily Scott, Rob St. John, Pete Harvey (ex-King Creosote), and Joe Smillie as musicians certainly earns that comparison to Emma Pollock and crew, but Modern Studies are less interested in precise arrangements and more invested in seeing how something simple can come faintly unraveled during those moments when a melody is being pursued.
The Weight of the Sun is out now via Fire Records.
More details on Modern Studies via the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Fire Records]