Name: Swell To Great
Brand: Modern Studies

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

CD-FIRE-502

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2017-11-17

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Redeye

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

809236150226

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1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

LP-FIRE-502

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2017-11-03

809236150233

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1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Modern Studies

Genre US

Folk

Label US

Fire

Forming out of a recording project via Scotland and Lancashire, the band first came together in 2015; ‘I played in his band and he played in mine’ composer and singer Emily Scott says of Rob St John. A natural move saw her similarly recruit Pete Harvey (King Creosote, The Leg) and Joe Smillie (Call To Mind, boss of Glasgow’s Glad Cafe). Inspired by an antique Victorian harmonium that eventually found its way from Northern Ireland to Scotland, Modern Studies’ debut album ‘Swell To Great’, aptly named after an organ stop, was unusually written with the malfunctioning instrument at the centre of their songwriting. 

Recorded in Harvey’s studio, Pumpkinfield in the rural surroundings of Perthshire, the quartet’s songs are embedded in the sea and the landscape of the shoreline. Emily Scott’s tender lead vocals soar over the sweeping cello, bellowing harmonium and gentle percussive crashes on ‘Black Street’, ‘Bottle Green’ and ‘Sleep’, while hidden in its depths Rob St John, whose distinctive vocals recall David Thomas Broughton, experiments with tape loops that are buried within the layers of their orchestral arrangements. St John, known for his field recordings and art-science projects, cites as his guiding inspiration Brian Eno’s experimentalism and pop sensibilities. Unfurling bucolic stories come with Scott’s lyrics for each song, ‘Supercool’ sets the tone with an immediate sense of yearning, moving into more contemporary folk-pop on ‘Father Is A Craftsman’ and ‘Dive-bombing’ evokes images of summer frolicking on the shore. The record includes an exceptional and haunting ode to Shirley Collins’ rendition of traditional song ‘Bold Fisherman’ that featured on the Earth Recordings ‘Shirley Inspired’ compilation. 

Swell To Great

Music US