UK Post-Punk Innovators Modern English Wrap Up US 'Take Me To The Trees' Tour

On the heels of this summer's "Retro Futura" package tour, UK post-punk innovators, Modern English, who released their first album together in thirty years, "Take Me To The Trees", earlier this year, are currently on the road in the US for the headlining "Take Me To The Trees" tour. The tour concludes next Wednesday, 11/22 at Rough Trade in Brooklyn. The shows feature songs from the new album, in addition to early 4AD singles, and tracks from their classic albums, "Mesh and Lace" and "After the Snow". Vocalist Robbie Grey says, "Now that our guitarist Gary has recovered from his successful life threatening surgery earlier this year, we're excited to be in the US for the completion of the "Take Me To The Trees" tour. As a band that was there when post punk happened in the early 80s, the shows are both edgy and sonic, as well as melodic and atmospheric."

Grey, bassist Mick Conroy; guitarist Gary McDowell; and keyboardist Steven Walker, made their first ever appearance at SXSW this year, playing several shows, and "Paste Magazine's" Annie Black included Modern English in the "10 Best Sets We Saw at SXSW" article and raved, "...Lord, this band is so much more than a one-hit-wonder. Nearly 40 years after their start in Essex, these British gentlemen still retain that iconic post-punk, synth-heavy feel. Often times, you may hear people say "what's old is new," but for Modern English, what is old is timeless and what is new is classic."

Funded by PledgeMusic and released via Kartel Music Group, "Take Me To The Trees", which was released in late February 2017, not only reconnects the band to their roots, in the fervent and fecund world of late 1970s/early 1980s post-punk Britain, but they have co-produced it with Martyn Young of Colourbox and M/A/R/R/S fame, whose last production job was 1986. In addition, the album's beautiful cover is by venerated art director Vaughan Oliver, whose very first sleeve design was Modern English's "Gathering Dust" single in 1980. The album was described by Brittnie Fuller from Seattle's "The Stranger" as combining "...the swooningly romantic new-wave jangle of 'Melt' with the effects-heavy eeriness of their 1981 4AD debut, Mesh & Lace.... post-punk riffs glossed in a heightened pop polish".

One of the highlights of the album is the track "Moonbeam". Written at his home in Thailand, the song is about his wife Tracy, and the beautiful nature in the country. Describing the song Robbie says, "The music is centered around nice guitar picking, a bass that really motors and is covered in melody, and keyboards that wouldn't be out of place on a rave anthem."

The band's fired-up vitality is palpable in "Take Me To The Trees" pulsating opener, "You're Corrupt", laced with Grey's rant against corporate greed, "and the throwaway nature of modern culture. It's a time when even the truth is watered down."

photo courtesy of Nikolai Puc' Photography

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