Reemerging out of mist-shrouded moors, where dark and contorted tales are murmured amidst the fog, Modern Woman return with blood-whetted appetites, offering their new single, ‘Achtung!’ via End of the Road Records.
‘Achtung!’ (a German word used as an exclamation to draw attention) traverses beyond realms of the folklore horror that pervaded their debut EP, ‘Dogs Fighting in My Dream’, into more serrated nightmares of industrial frenzy. Bone-stiffening scrapes of strings open into the prowling spoken-word vocal melodies of Sophie Harris, a conflicted stream of consciousness around childhood memories. Melting away by the ravaging flames, by the haunting words of a callous father’s authoritarian wrath, poured from the crucible where the innocent light of childhood nostalgia and darkness of unresolved male anger become indistinguishable.
Guitarist and vocalist Sophie Harris unravels, “… in school I used to live round the corner from a friend who I had a real crush on. His parents were German, and his Dad scared me… [He] used to come in and shout at us if we were doing things we weren’t supposed to, which was often.”
Their first release since July 2022 lies somewhere deep between the sounds of Dry Cleaning and Gilla Band, yet creates something entirely new, where the machine-infected guitars weep with their wails of feedback and drums cascade with tearing fury. Burrowing themselves deep inside a submerged instrumental psychosis, bassist Juan Brint-Gutierrez, percussion and violinist David Denyer, and drummer Adam Blackhurst, toy with an inevitable, heart-pounding climax.
‘Achtung!’ is a warning, a call to attention, brace yourself for the industrial horror that lies ahead.
Photo by Sandra Abert
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