A Modern Woman Moment
What really came through when talking to Modern Woman was their total respect and love for art. Their simple dedication to finding out what sounds you can make, and what happens when you put them all together, is both intriguing and inspiring. Modern Woman is made up of front woman, Sophie Harris, with Adam Blackhurst on drums, Juan Brint-Gutiérrez on lots, and David Denyer on table (yup).
Their EP, ‘Offerings’, is rich in composition, orchestrally dramatic, emotion lead and almost fully embedded in a cult. I don’t want to over-surrealise their music; the tight structure of the song actually creates more space in which the band can experiment and explore. Sophie’s vocals have that retractable power that will only come out when needed, and in her own words, a banshee-esque quality. I hesitate to call her style post-punk; she’s not angry, she’s more like Chrissie Hynde in a field.
Their home is on the stage, and although we’re gagging for their new releases, namely September’s ‘Dogs Fighting in my Dream’, the trick to Modern Woman is seeing them perform live. Catch them this summer playing at festivals including End of the Road, Broadcast and Manchester Psych.
PHOTOS BY Alex Stephen Thurson
(It’s worth mentioning that Adam was locked up in his bedroom with the 'rona, so despite being an integral presence in the interview, he took a backseat.)Adam: *coughs* That was not coronavirus.
LB: What makes you modern women?
Sophie: Juan came up with the name and it means very different things to all of us. I interpret the name through the lyrics I write. It’s also reflected in how I like to howl on stage and push the powerful, animalistic feelings.
There’s a lot of religious iconography in ‘Offerings’. Where did that come from?
S: I wrote that song on bass. It actually fell together pretty naturally. I had this idea of keeping it sparse with banshee-esque vocals; simple but yearning. I’m drawn to bands like The Raincoats and I wanted this female energy to come through.
Do you feel like you’re exploring the positive or negative side of religion?
S: We weren’t trying to make a comment on religion, just exploring the female side of spiritual history; the way they offer things to Gods, to husbands, to children. It was important to flood the video with imagery and icons. There’s a lot of pomegranates in there.
We really delved in there quickly! Let’s take it back. How did you guys meet?
S: I moved to London to study and write songs and I met a lot of people. I developed the craft until I felt ready to have a band. Me and David were linked by a friend and we hit it off from there. We played a few sets together with David on violin.
David: I was playing it like a ukulele.
S: It’s cool that sound. David is an amazing composer. Then through a mutual friend we met Juan and Adam. He’s an amazing drummer and he now lives in the next room. All of the boys’ playing completes the songs, as I imagined and more.
What are the instruments that you’ve invented, that you feel you need to copyright?
D: I like the idea of a sellable item. Acquiring little shards of cymbals, they could make nice merch. Pretty much most of the DIY stuff comes from ‘the table’; a percussion set-up that I use. Yes it’s ‘the table’, it has things on it, but it’s also an instrument in itself. It gets hit a lot, it gets smashed up, it’s been sawn in half and it starts to sound different. The colander used to be a cylindrical shape, now it’s a strange blob shape, and that changes the sound as well. It’s all deliberately kept in a derelict state for the particular sound qualities. What’s coincidence and what’s design?
Do you think there’s a risk of experimentalism going too far?
D: That’s a good question. A lot of the time some ideas just don’t make it.
S: I have a structured approach to music and sometimes I can be a little pully backy, but that meeting together in the middle is what makes us unique.
Juan: It seems organic what we end up with. We don’t have a level of experimentalism we want to reach.
How is performing live with so many instruments?
S: Sometimes Juan and David swap.
D: Don’t forget your cowbell.
S: Yeah, but I feel attached to vocals and guitar so I don’t wanna put them down.
J: There’s a lot of carrying stuff around.
S: Also important not to hit Juan in the face with my headstock.
Do you prefer the roughness of live or the structure of the recorded versions?
S: I one hundred percent feel happy doing both, but I think live is how I imagine the songs to be played. For me, music is the emotion, the change each time, the performance. There are some things I would do live that I wouldn’t do on a recording because it’s too wild, too in the moment.
PHOTOS BY Alex Stephen Thurson
Did being in isolation have positive impacts on you guys creatively?
S: I went into it feeling shit then realised it was a chance to develop my song writing style, so I came up with a schedule to try out different methods of songwriting, like streams of consciousness. I had full time discipline to get fully absorbed in trying to hit those targets of however many songs a month, so when we came out, they’d be studio ready. A lockdown song has made it into the set.
J: It was quite loopy for me. I re-learnt piano, and playing my instruments in a way I don’t usually. Learning new techniques and stuff.
D: Before lockdown my work was writing music for theatre, which abruptly stopped and still hasn’t abruptly started again, so I took it as an opportunity to get better at the viola, explore a lot of sound design, play around with the tape machine. It always feels like messing around rather than work but it ended up informing some of the stuff we did.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
Adam: For me, listening to music is very tied to moving and I’m in a very static place at the moment. My ears have gone! Part in parcel of my immune system trying not to bloody die. Woe me. I ran through the new Snapped Ankles album. I enjoyed that. The new Black Midi, that’s fantastic.
S: In the past I was influenced by Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell for melody, Radiohead in terms of playing guitar, and Talking Heads in the sense of structure. From a songwriting perspective it’s very subconscious now, although I do love listening to modern bands like Platonica Erotica.
J: I can never get enough of Kate Bush. I’ve been listening to a lot of Spanish Flamenco Pop so C. Tangana. I’m obsessed with his album. Las Grecas too, I guess with the weather being so hot.
What’s next?
S: Festivals are the main thing, Manchester, Portsmouth, Glasgow. We’re releasing an EP in September so we’ll be playing a show around then in London. Our next single is out in August.
One final question. What do you listen to on the Last Bus Home?
S: A song to lean against the window and be melancholic to. High on a Rocky Ledge by Moon Dog. Nothing exciting because I feel like I’d want to go back into the event.
J: Probably the opposite for me. I’d want something to keep me awake so I don’t miss my stop. Something like Fifteen Step.
A: Probably something chill like John Denver, a little bit of country to get me home.
D: I would say We Don’t Need Other Worlds We Need Mirrors.