Modal Melodies - S/T LP (Purple Marble)

Modal Melodies - S/T LP (Anti Fade/Australia)

Purple marble limited pressing of 150 copies

They Say:

Thirteen perfectly balanced, keyboard saturated songs flutter like flags threaded on a string: a collection of fleeting thoughts stirred by the winds of Eighties pop. Riffs soar, the drum machine gallops and vocals are as carefully blended as a mango smoothie on a white-sky day.

Modal Melodies is the duo made up of Violetta Del Conte-Race (Primo! / The Glass Picture) & Jake Robertson (Alien Nosejob, etc.) The group stemmed from a loose chat at Geelong’s Jerkfest in early 2021, where they made plans to help each other complete some unfinished demos. After emailing ideas back and forth through lockdown, they were soon able to be in the same room together to structure their quickly blossoming songs. Vio added vocals from home and Jake mixed them into their sessions. Six to eight months after making their first arrangements, Modal Melodies had matured into this debut record.

There’s something about a duo - something intimate and serious: it requires full trust and an act of balance. These are people who have listened to so much music they know how to make tunes in a way that seems intuitive. Karen Marks, Saada Bonaire and Lena Platonos have been mentioned as influences, but it seems like the biggest inspiration to cite came from each other. There’s an untamed instinct for melody, and layers like clouds, slowly rolling in. Drenched with colours and understated tension in parts, coupled with reckless joy, this album speaks to this moment.

We Say:

RIYL: Superpowers activated by the pairing of Jake Robertson (Alien Nosejob/Ausmuteants) and Violetta Del Conte-Race (Primo!), an eighties Pop atmosphere dripping with synths that work nicely for an aerobicize cool down or would certainly get Kevin Bacon dancing on a bike or feet, electro streams of consciousness, A Bell is a Cup appreciators, Italo disco for morning people who appreciate the occasional use of guitars, car washes for the soul, and that tiny moment of bliss when you have broken into a new dimension while crossing over county, state, or country lines by car.