Although this second single from Strutter soaks up some eighties influences – the fright sensation of Poltergeist and the current retro-infused hit series Stranger Things, “Modern Life” is very much the product of the here and now.
Sure, there are plenty of pre-Brit-pop, indie vibes, an echo of that golden period when the indie sound came of age before descending into cloy and cliche thanks to the sonic lads and ladettes who were waiting in the wings. There is also a slight hint of Richard Hawley’s mellifluousness running softly through, but for every noticeable nod to the past, there are two, or more, steps into the future.
Wrapping itself in sonic weight as it runs, slowly adding deft textures, increasingly rich atmospheres, and a frisson of anticipation, plus some wandering and wonderful guitar lines becoming more prevalent as the song heads for its final destination, this is, as the title suggests, a musing on how we cope with the slings and arrows of living in the modern age.
How do you cope? What is your release mechanism? Why does modern life feel like a constant battle? Why does the apparatus of the age seem set against us rather than making our lives easier? Why all the questions? Why indeed?
Strutter don’t have the answers, why would they, it isn’t their job, but in “Modern Life” we do find a song that not only reminds us that most of us feel let down by the way the world is turning and also acts, in some small but significant way, as an oasis of sonic escape in a world of musical dross and lowest common denomenator, landfill-headed, pop pap.
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