I recall winging my way across the Atlantic back in the 1980s on a Boeing 707, patiently waiting for Sheena Easton’s ‘Modern Girl’ to come around on what then passed for in-flight entertainment.
Meanwhile the song title ‘Modern Man’ has been graced by such musical luminaries as Howard Jones, Arcade Fire and numerous others and there is a band with that name, too.
I never expected anything with that title to be Death Metal, which is what I naturally expected from a band called Death Machine.
It turns out to be nothing of the sort, more of a soft prog piece lifted out of the 1970s and early 80s if anything with gentle vocals, a pleasantly melodic tune with rising intensity, multiple overlays of instrumentation and vocals that are underpinned by some of the crispest, most biting bass and drum rhythms I’ve heard in a while (well produced, too) and a nice line in syncopation between all of the instruments.
That ‘prog’ comment will probably be considered an unusual observation by their fans of what is fundamentally a folk band but that’s what I hear.
There’s a sort of extraterrestrial feel about it and it sounds like a space ship taking off at the end, hauling them all back to Planet Zog or wherever they originated from.
While Easton’s ‘Modern Girl’ was a celebration of the new found freedom to express themselves of late 70s/early 80s teenagers, Arcade Fire’s ‘Modern Man’ presented a dichotomy by zeroing in on the feelings of boredom amongst teenagers that arose in the same time period in Texas in the ever growing suburbs, while also sounding a warning about the impact technology was having on how people behave. Prescient or what?
With ‘Modern Man’, Death Machine take those concerns a stage further by relating how a modern man has to resort to many compromises in order to fit into society’s new norms and the structures that surround us.
I agree and I’ll make two observations.
- That is what I had to do when writing music reviews for seven years before I went solo and gave the finger to compromises;
- Writing this on 19th January I suspect a lot of this is about to change. I think you know what I mean.
In the meantime, enjoy the song:
‘Modern Man’ will also feature on a double album, ‘Dawning Eyes, which will be released on 25th April.
Death Machine is: Jesper Mogensen – vocals and guitar; Sven Busck Andersen – drums; Morten Vinther Ørberg – bass; Simon Christensen – keys.
Find them on:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Deathmachinecph
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/deathmachine_cph/
