Review Summary: Consistent, understated excellence.
Modern Nature very quietly stepped into the indie-rock scene in 2019 with their
Nature EP and their debut full-length
How To Live. Featuring a lo-fi sound that alternates between timid verses bursting with jazzy brass and smooth, gliding choruses, the band seems to have figured out a very palatable aesthetic early on. The group’s sophomore “mini album”,
Annual, further refines their formula without altering the solid base upon which their sound is built. The result is a breezy twenty minutes that flows with an air of classical elegance.
Those who appreciated
How To Live will immediately recognize the similarities here: the hushed Nick Drake-ish vocals, the freeform rhythms, and rattling guitars. After a brief guitar interlude, ‘Flourish’ encompasses all of these traits with an especially prominent saxophone, lending the song a thick and textured sound while Jack Cooper’s breathy verses cover it all in a fog. ‘Halo’ is another song that makes heavy use of the saxophone, as it swells and explodes through the gaps left by the song’s earthy, bare-bones structure. Most of the songs on this seven track LP are built around tatty, meandering drums that allow the vocals and brass to, in effect, determine which direction the wind blows each song. It’s all very classy and chilled-out – almost a lounge vibe that alternates between smoky timbres and crystalline beauty.
Closer ‘Wynter’ is the nearest
Annual comes to really getting its feet off the floor, with wispy, poignant verses that are somewhat reminiscent of album highlight ‘Criminals’ (from 2019’s
How To Live), although it floats rather than hitting the runway and taking flight. That’s a pretty apt analogy for
Annual as a whole – it’s percussively and acoustically grounded, but its vocals and various instrumental accents allow it to drift across the soundscape like a fine, misty rain. It doesn’t quite ascend to the beauteous peaks of its immediate predecessor, but it’s just as steady and unwavering – hovering above, around, and through the atmosphere to become one with our surroundings. With
Annual, Modern Nature prove that consistent, understated excellence comes naturally to them.
