classical

04:01

Modern Studies present new album ‘Welcome Strangers’
Released 18th May 2018
CD/LP/DL
Pre-order link: https://modernstudiesfire.bandcamp.com/

“Songs that see the mystical beyond the material” MOJO

‘Welcome Strangers’ is the second record by feral pop outliers Modern Studies. Elegiac and haunted, life-giving and triumphant, this beguiling return digs deep into landscapes both real and imagined, internal and external, in a work that might perhaps best be described as “kosmiche choral” or, if we’re pushing it “arts-und-crafts-werk”. Or, put simply, glorious pop music. 

It is an elemental and often spectral world of contrasting tones and hues that is found within ‘Welcome Strangers’, one whose lyrical vocabulary is of loss, light, air, sun, growth; of spires, seeds and phosphene dreams. Here is the Britain of visionaries such as Kate Bush, Broadcast or PJ Harvey, a nation of dark magic, conﬂict, celebration and confusion, all at the same time. 

Witness the incandescent chamber-pop of ‘Get Back Down’: underpinned by complex jazz rhythms, and string and brass ﬂourishes, it manages to be both understated and epic as it explores a similar sonic terrain to Wild Beasts. Or there’s ‘Horns And Trumpets’, a haunting musical perambulation that burrows deep into Britain, a warm-hued hymn for future generations, and ‘Let Idle Hands’, which abandons restraint halfway through and, in a moment of musical epiphany, runs joyously to the horizon. Meanwhile on ‘Phosphene Dream’ the honeyed harmonies of Emily Scott and Rob St. John wrap themselves around each other like Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood had they holidayed in draughty Glasgow tenements. Or perhaps – as on ‘Disco’ – they come closer to Kylie and Nick Cave. 

“It’s an ever changing thing - an organism,” explains principle songwriter Emily of Modern Studies’ collaborative creative process, “there is space for each of the band to experiment.” Shared band listening habits include Yamasuki, Van Dyke Parks, Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Matthew E White, Basil Kirchin, and Nanci Griffith. 

Working at Pete’s Pumpkinfield studio in rural Perthshire through 2017, the band used a Creative Scotland grant to hire a chamber orchestra and a remote village hall to record them in. Contributors include sisters, wives, toddlers, freeform saxophonists and The Pumpkinseeds, an ensemble featuring violins, violas, cellos, trombones and vocals, brought together to play Pete and Emily’s collaborative string, brass and vocal arrangements. Truly, a family affair. 

As well as further ﬂeshing out the sound with analogue synths, tube organs, drum machines and mellotrons, some inventive techniques were deployed – a decayed tape loop of Emily’s vocals used to create the stuttering rhythm in Mud and Flame for example, or prepared guitars recurring as percussion and drones.

Now they proudly present ‘Welcome Strangers’, an album of modernist pop weirdness for the 21st century, a bricolage where classicism meets experimentalism and repeated listening unearths new stories for this contemporary age. More elaborate and expansive than its predecessor, this is music as cartography, Modern Studies mapping their own multi-dimensional internal world. 

‘Welcome Strangers’. Welcome all.

Modern Studies are: Emily Scott (vocals, organs, piano, double bass). Rob St. John (vocals, guitars, synths, harmonium, tape loops). Pete Harvey (cello, bass, piano). Joe Smillie (drums, mellotron, vocals).    

Ben Myers, February 2018

Modern Studies - Mud and Flame

original music: luca longobardi
piano: luca longobardi

L'eternel (single)

L'éternel

The Secret lighthouse

The Secret Lighthouse

"Winter Stories" will be released on Feb 23rd 2018.

Winter Stories

My Misty Mornings

Scherzino - Anderson Performance

Art: https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=67379620

We may not have forever, but we have right now

Download

Adagio For Clarinet - Wagner Performance With Solo

The first single release from the forth coming album, Polarity. An exploration of minimalism and emotion. 

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/eriss-debt-single/1356697783
Purchase here: https://tristanbarton.bandcamp.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6GR6ptXhZqwo2K49LDrx2B?si=zhYaZatkRTCxk9o0y2CqMg

Art Design: Roman De Guili www.terracollage.com
Composer: Tristan Barton
Mixing and Mastering: TBM Studio.

All Rights Reserved © Tristan Barton Music 2018

Eris's Debt

From the new album, "Winter Stories", out Feb 23rd 2018

I can see you

Clear Vinyl

I Can See You

"Angel of Wonder", composed by Diana Killion Rutherford 2018.

Angel Of Wonder

An audio expedition of sorts-
Instruments- Celtic guitar, stereo organ, mandolin, violin, acoustic grand piano, religious female choir, plucked classical guitar, sustained strings, accordion.

Mood Exhibit- Compass

This here is an orchestral rendition of Unravel, originally composed and performed by TK. Hope you all enjoy!

Unravel - A Tokyo Ghoul Orchestration

While the germinal ideas were conceived in late 2016, Lachryma was composed in the fall of 2017 and completed on December 31. I wrote this piece for several reasons: first, because I had not written anything for solo piano since the fall of 2014, three years before, and wanted again to explore the instrument in its solo capabilities with fresh taste and imagination; second, as a kind of etude to challenge the performer rhythmically and explore the piano’s rich variety of sounds; and third, to mark the end of a season of my personal and musical life and the beginning of a new one. Lachryma (Latin for “tear”) expresses the idea of a conflict between emotions, with an underlying pulse that can be envisioned as a flow of tears or as a heartbeat. Sorrow, wistfulness, anger, and calm reflection blend together in a whirlpool of introspective struggle, which eventually dies down to an atmosphere of peace.

Recorded at The Juilliard School composers' concert in Paul Recital Hall on February 12, 2018 by pianist Tengku Irfan.

Lachryma (2017) - Tengku Irfan, piano

Soul Surplus - Piano Sample Pack Vol. 1 (Loops)

u could miss it.

Overture is the opening track from my new mini-album.

www.instagram.com/lightsandmotion
www.lightsandmotion.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4N11Xw4rtuswjOeZjqKgay?si=4vymhHHtSf-9yXMWS8Om7Q

Bloom

Spotify

Overture

I worked on the opening motif some time ago but felt it sounded a little childish.

Can’t recall what inspired me but I managed to come up with this little piece this week.

Sheet music can be found on my website at www.sylvester.la/work/enigmas/

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