Modern Studies
Scottish quartet Modern Studies unite pastoral chamber pop and folk with a gently experimental approach. Incorporating lush harmonies, jazz-tinged rhythms, and subtle electronics, the band have produced a string of elaborate full-lengths including 2018's Welcome Strangers and 2022's We Are There.
Modern Studies formed in 2015 around the songwriting of Glaswegian musician Emily Scott. Having recently written a set of songs on an antique pedal harmonium, which she was about to donate to her friend Pete Harvey's studio, Scott's material soon became the center of a new collaboration with Harvey, Joe Smillie, and Rob St. John. The group of multi-instrumentalists assembled at Harvey's Pumpkinfield studio in rural Perthshire and adorned Scott's thoughtful tunes with cello, analog synths, double bass, drums, and a variety of other tones, emerging with their full-length debut, Swell to Great. Released by Scottish label Song, By Toad in September 2016, the album became a critical success, making MOJO Magazine's Top 20 year-end list. In addition to their LP, Modern Studies were also featured on a 2015 tribute compilation of songs by U.K. folk legend Shirley Collins called Shirley Inspired. In November 2016, Swell to Great was reissued worldwide by Fire Records.
In 2017, the band began recording their sophomore record. They returned to Harvey's Pumpkinfield studio and acquired a grant that allowed them to hire a chamber orchestra and a village hall in which to record the album. Welcome Strangers was released in 2018. Artist and sound designer Tommy Perman then crafted a vastly different electronic interpretation of the album, Emergent Slow Arcs, which was issued in 2019. Modern Studies returned to business in May 2020 with their third full-length, The Weight of the Sun, folding in more electronic elements as well as a Krautrock influence. Released two years later, fourth album We Are There saw their ever-expanding palette touch on lush string-laden Baroque pop, dark jazzy rhythms, and twilit harmonies.
© Timothy Monger /TiVo
Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Cassandra
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 29 Nov 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Welcome Strangers
Folk - Released by Fire Records on 18 May 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Weight of the Sun
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 8 May 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
We Are There
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 18 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Swell To Great
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 4 Aug 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mothlight
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 3 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Life Flows in Endless Song
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 10 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Emergent Slow Arcs
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 26 Jul 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Body Is a Tide
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 18 Feb 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Ephemeris Mist
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 17 May 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Heavy Water
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 20 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Light a Fire
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 5 Jan 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wild Ocean
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 15 Nov 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spectral Cannon (Alternative Version)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 27 Nov 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jacqueline
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 23 Apr 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Run for Cover
Alternative & Indie - Released by Fire Records on 2 Apr 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo