Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Modern Nature, 'Performance'

The chaos of modern life requires choices on how to live; on its new song "Performance," the U.K. band Modern Nature chooses gentleness. Inspired by The Tempest — "Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises," writes Shakespeare — Modern Nature creates its own center within the storm.

Here, the musicians draw on jazz's dance with silence — think Chet Baker or Miles Davis, only playing the perfect notes at the perfect moment. There's also a love of Talk Talk's later records humming through "Performance." The interlocking rhythm section creates a hypnotic intimacy for the trumpet and saxophone to weave through, building through repetition. The song responds to the alarming disconnect at the heart of the pandemic: profits soaring for big business while thousands get sick or die every day. Songwriter Jack Cooper is a quiet witness, singing "the roar of chaos brings a rhythm / but there's heaven in the hills." It sounds like Modern Nature is building its own vision of home.

Copyright 2022 KUTX 98.9

Tags
Art Levy
More Stories