Modern English
continued looking backward and forward simultaneously in the 2020s. At the dawn of the decade, the veteran
4AD
post-punk band began work on fresh material, and they eventually resumed their relentless touring schedule, especially across America, like they were trying to break it, despite having accomplished the feat four decades earlier. As indicated by the album's title and opening count-off, the band sought to document these songs to reflect their on-stage energy, and recorded them primarily live, assisted by producer and engineer
Mario McNulty
. The lineup is essentially the same as it was on preceding post-reunion album
Take Me to the Trees
: core members
Robbie Grey
,
Michael Conroy
Gary McDowell
, and
Stephen Walker
, joined by touring musicians
Ric Chandler
on drums (
Roy Martin
is on one song) and
Daniel Jakubovic
on second guitar.
Grey
's voice is sometimes treated in a way to further emphasize the urgent bulletin-like quality of the material, but otherwise, this crackles with spontaneity, and the band at times plays with nearly the same ferocity displayed on some of their 1980-1982 output. As with
1 2 3 4
sounds like the inspired work of the same group that made
Mesh & Lace
After the Snow
Ricochet Days
. Coincidentally, or bizarrely, or both, "I Melt with You,"
's big hit from 1982, was certified gold by the RIAA a few weeks before the album was released. ~ Andy Kellman