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Modern Nature

Oct 09, 2025 By Nick Roseblade Photography by Nick Roseblade Web Exclusive

I leave home with enough time to get to Alphabet (which is the other side of town to me). When I get to the station all the trains to get me there on time have been cancelled. The bus it is then… Luckily one arrives within five minutes and we’re off. As my soundtrack I listen to the new HYUNYE release Hirsute Mandarin. This solo piano EP feels like the perfect soundtrack to the night ahead. Luckily the traffic isn’t too bad, and I make it to Alphabet before Modern Nature, and their support Anton Pearson (you know Anton from Squid) plays. The last time I went to Alphabet it was called The Rialto Theatre and it was a glorious dive. Since then, it’s been revamped into a lovely welcoming and sounded pub and venue. After obtaining their finest 0% pint its up stairs to the gig venue.

Pearson’s set consisted of him sitting behind two tables of equipment, with a keyboard/synth to his side and a guitar on his lap. This might not sound that exciting, but the music he created was exquisite. His forty-minute set was culled from his second, and currently, unreleased and untitled second album. “Tintinnabulation I” opens with gentle drones, swaths of slow-moving sound and a slightly stuttering guitar part. The song also lived up to its name as tintinnabulation means the ringing or tinkering of sounds. These cascading sounds grew into something bigger but not overstated. Three quarters of the way through a simple piano motif appeared. Simple in the incorporated half a dozen, or so, notes, but backed with a falling synth gave it a massive impact. Next up was “Driving Past the Muscular Cows in Belgium”. This was the highlight of the set. The song was twenty minutes long, but it didn’t feel longer than seven minutes. What was impressive here was how Pearson utilised everything he had brought to his disposal. He did so in a way economical to the gear. He started playing his guitar with a slide. This was then looped while he deployed some of the other sounds. At one point he was working with his pedals. Once he selected the pedal he needed you couldn’t see his finders/hands move anything, but then there was a huge change in the sound. After he was happy with this adjustment, he moved onto another pedal, or piece of kit. Eventually the sound had been dramatically changed but nothing appeared to have been altered. This was the real joy of the set. Trying to predict what his subtle actions would yield. About halfway through the song, Pearson picked up a trumpet that I hadn’t noticed on the stage, and started playing sombre and beautiful tones. These sounds were then layered and looped to create what felt like a living wall of sound. Its contours changed constantly. Then through these fugs of sound came bright and piercing synths. Like the sun shining through dark clouds. After “Muscular Cows” had played itself out Pearson played a cover of Ry Cooder’s “Southern Comfort”. As expected, this was mostly a guitar piece, but his electronic gear backed it elegantly. Given the music we’d heard tonight, it’s easy to forget that Pearson is an exceptional guitarist, so it was nice to see himself get lost in playing his main instrument. After this Pearson played “Builder in the Bottle” and “Tintinnabulation II” along with some improvised links between the songs. These links gave the songs the feeling of having connecting themes.

After a short break Modern Nature took to the stage. They opened with “Radio”. Slow moving guitars, throbbing bass and a human metronome on drums. Jack Cooper’s vocals were understated but filled with passion and pain. Then, about a third of the way in, the chorus kicks in and the harmonies emerge. Bassist Jeff Tobias and guitarist Tara Cunningham join Cooper, and it feels like the world stops. This is something that happens again and again through the set. A few songs in they play a new song. The name is not given but the lyric “Something Wrong” is repeated. It has more of a barroom ballad to it, then the terse songs from The Heat Warps. It’s also the bounciest song of the night. A few songs later another new song is unveiled. “I can’t Tell You” is a prominent lyric. This one features Cunningham on lead vocals before Cooper joins and takes over. It would have been interesting to have Cunningham be the only vocalist. Partly because she has a great voice and it would have a bit of a different texture to the night. This one also has a barroom band feel. A bit like Cowboy Junkies tackling Patti Smith. The MVP of the set is drummer Jim Wallis. His rhythm is never off. Always playing as he needs to. At times you forget someone is actually drumming as it’s as close to perfect as you can get. Then you realise he’s there and all your focus is on him. The highlight of the set is the final three songs. “Zoology”, “Performance” and “Totality”. “Zoology” is a slow-moving river of a song. Gently the guitars twine and intertwine with each other. Sometimes playing in unison, others answering each other’s questions. As the soaring chorus kicks in those harmonies appear again and we’re off to another place. “Performance” is a bit more upbeat and poppy. The set needed this pick me up before launching into the standout track of the set, and album “Totality”. Wallis starts the pace slow and steady. Everything is just chugging long breezily then the chorus kicks in and BAM it’s perfection. Those notes. Those harmonies. Those bloody harmonies. The room stops and just gazes at the beauty being created from the stage. The outro could have, should have, been elongated. Get another round of choruses out of it. It’s pure bliss. Then, the music starts to drop away. It’s acapella. It’s possibly the most mesmerising, and beautiful, thing I’ve heard. And then it stops. We cheer. The lights come on and we shuffle out.

On the way home I start to think about Modern Nature’s set and how a greatest hits performance. Then I checked and their set was mostly culled from their latest album The Heat Warps. Personally, this has always felt like their strongest album to date but seeing it live hammers home that it really is. Never have they sounded too tight, vibrant and free. What made their set so amazing was that it was grounded in amazing songwriting, an incredibly tight band and the ability to produce harmonies unlike the majority of bands I’ve seen recently. This is a band you need to see live and if you can’t do that, then play the album. You owe yourself that.