Modern Nature @ The Earl, Atlanta, US, January 19, 2026

Modern Nature

Modern Nature, Brigid Dawson and the Mothers Network

Modern Nature @ The Earl, Atlanta, US, January 19, 2026,

Feb 23, 2026 By Mark Moody Photography by Christa Joyner Moody Web Exclusive

The Jack Cooper led Modern Nature found themselves contending with a not too friendly Mother Nature on the East Coast portion of their U.S. tour. The U.K. based four-piece bravely navigated from Toronto to Detroit to Chicago and down to the southernmost city, Atlanta, during a brutally cold winter blast. Atlanta proved no balmier than the rest of the stretch.

The Earl is undoubtedly one of the city’s best listening rooms. The restaurant portion of the combo eatery/music venue was packed this Monday night, which happened to be the night of the college football championship game. Those of us lucky to have a ticket to the inner sanctum of the music venue were treated to a school night double-header. First up was The Oh Sees keyboardist and vocalist, Brigid Dawson. Dawson’s backing band, which goes by the Mothers Network, this night consisted of the members of Modern Nature (Jack Cooper - guitar/vocals, Tara Cunningham - guitar/vocals, Jeff Tobias - bass/keys, Jim Wallis - drums).

Aside from the college football game, Dawson was quick to point out the significance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday in the city of his birth. Dawson seemed genuinely excited to be back at The Earl and fronting such a skilled ensemble. Given her roots, it wasn’t surprising that Dawson’s songs carried a lightly psychedelic air. “Mother Reptile” proved an all out vamp, with Tobias on keys providing the underpinning for the song. The following, “Children of Good Fortune,” Dawson dedicated to her mother with the band all joining in on harmonies. The later “England Is Blooming” was a spoken word piece held together with some fat keyboard chords. Throughout, Dawson’s vocals were crystalline and pure, while the band provided a modal, psychedelic backing that fit the bill.

Cooper is a veteran of several earlier projects (Mazes, Ultimate Painting), but has been fronting Modern Nature for going on seven years. Including my stint at a prior publication, I’ve reviewed all of the Modern Nature releases and interviewed Cooper three times. So it was a real treat to have a chance to cover the group on a rare trip to the U.S. The group’s latest album, The Heat Warps, also marked a significant shift to a more straightforward song writing approach. Ironically brought about by the addition of experimental guitarist, Tara Cunningham. Wallis and Tobias have been the main constants in the group (obviously outside of Cooper), so the touring band was particularly tight and percolating that night.

The opening song, “Radio,” set the stage. Cooly played, it was perfectly fluid and Wallis’ taps of the drums set the pace. The following, “Glance,” gave Cunningham her first chance to showcase some tangling guitar interplay with Cooper’s lead. “Pharaoh” took things a notch further with Wallis’ wood block knocks and Cunningham giving way to a wall of distortion by the song’s end. Cooper and Cunningham have also been working on a side project called The Sleeves, but the new songs played tonight were those of Modern Nature. Songs titled “Things” and “Christmas” were ones that Cunningham took the vocal lead on and certainly felt more directly personal than the rest of the band’s catalog.

The group tackled The Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down” as their sole cover and closed their set out with the soulful “Totality,” which Cooper wrote in the aftermath of experiencing the solar eclipse of a few years back. Though they didn’t play my favorite off the new album, “Zoology,” they played most everything else, more than a handful of new songs, and “Performance,” from the excellent Island of Noise. Since starting music journalism some ten years back, Cooper and Modern Nature have been one of my favorite acts and one that is constantly evolving. It was great to catch them with one of their best line-ups to date doing what they do best. Enthralling the crowd with a warmth and dynamism that broke up a bitter winter’s night.