I thought of home and times gone by
And laughed aloud at the crimson sky
Modern English are a, well, English, yes, 80s New Wave band. In the usual pattern for these things, they hit their stride around 1982 with the album After The Snow, did some more work into the 90s, have stayed on the fringe of the music scene and reformed around 2010 with a new album (Soundtrack), about most of which I have very little to say. They have a decent website with some band history.
It’s the After The Snow album, though, which stays with me. Apparently it wasn’t a huge success; the single which did do well (I’ll Melt With You) I find okay, but nothing I’d otherwise cross the road for. A fairly generic love ballad with some world-weary apocalyptic overtones (and Flock of Seagulls hair/boilersuits in the video! and what is that keyboard?) Only at the edges are the shifting harmonies that show what they’re really capable of:
I’ll stop the world and melt with you
You’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all the time
There’s nothing you and I won’t do
I’ll stop the world and melt with you
The future’s open wide
The opening track, Someone’s Calling, is a lot stronger. A dark vision of a fascist-feeling political rally that wouldn’t be out of place in a Pink Floyd album. A deeply felt anger at the Thatcher era with pure tones and complex keyboard/drum riffs in the background; this, to me, is the punk in cyberpunk, but both are here equally balanced.
The flames were dancing as the people shouted
The streets they were alive as the stage was mounted
A thousand cries of jubilation
From the throes of this great people’s nation
And as our bridges burned to dust
A useless feeling was quite enough
I felt a chill run with the knives
Someone’s calling in the night
I stop to think
I stop to cry
The choice is always mine
But I’m too scared to judge
It’s the title track, though – After The Snow itself – which takes my breath away. The keyboard comes into its own. A deceptively simple repetitive ascending-scale motif while arpeggios unfurl like fractals of modem static. The melody and chord structure absorbs and resolves all the musical themes from the other songs on the album, building to its own climax of transformation. It feels sleek, ultramodern, cybernetic, and yet it’s also an uplifting anthem that finds itself centred in the beauty of the natural world. It’s not about sex, it’s not about violence, it’s not filled with ennui or dread or loathing. It’s just beautiful and hopeful. This song ought to stand proudly in history beside Martha and the Muffins’ Echo Beach, and yet…
Sometimes we just doesn’t notice the right things.
The rhythm of the rain gives an off beat on the window pane
Like an angel crying from the sky
I can see its beauty
After the snow
I can see its beauty
After the snow
The temperature’s dropping rapidly
Normal service will shortly be resumed
I can see its beauty
After the snow
I can see its beauty
After the snow (has gone away)
After the snow
I stood and watched the dark sky rise
With glaring sunlight in my eyes
I thought of home and times gone by
And laughed aloud at the crimson sky
After the snow
After the snow
After the snow
After the snow
After the snow there’s something more
After the snow there’s something more
After the snow there’s something more
After the snow there’s something more
After the snow
After the snow
The rhythm of the rain gives an offbeat on the window pane
Like an angel crying from the sky
I can see its beauty
After the snow
I can see its beauty