Review: Modern Woman's Debut Album 'Johnny's Dreamworld'
- Kora Elms Fleming
- 1 minute ago
- 3 min read
A band named “Modern Woman” and an album cover of two girls lying in a field, one punching the other in the face.
These are the two things that get my attention.
London’s Modern Woman releases their debut album Johnny’s Dreamworld, via legendary label One Little Independent Records on May 1st. The album has been two years in the works, which lead singer Sophie Harris described as an “enjoyable marathon.”
Modern Woman came together through a tangle of mutual friends and housemates, all coming from different styles of music. They ended up creating this beautiful cross section of avant-garde, art rock, indie rock, Patti Smith, Kate Bush, and Dry Cleaning sound.
Harris has an English degree with a poetry focus. While listening to her lyrics and the almost spoken word sections of Johnny’s Dreamworld, this background tends to leak out. But, not in a way that is hard to grasp or full of nonchalance. It’s a clear release, “Reading has always been my method of escapism, and so is music, so hopefully I think some of it will come through by proxy,” Harris said.
The album leads with full force, crashing into you and taking you to the ground. Right away, you’re taken on this journey of push and pull and intensity. The guitars are heavy, the drums carry their grit.
“Fork/Heart” effortlessly embodies this push and pull. Harris begins the track softly, and hauntingly tricking your mind. Until you hear the faint hum of strings pulling you to a metal guitar take over.
“I have a personal draw to conflicting things as a theme in itself. Sometimes…conflict can create a variety of emotions, that’s something I have always been drawn to…”
I need to go back to the cover art for a second. It was shot by Sandra Ebert and inspired by Justine Kurland. Kurland, known for her series “Girl Pictures,” captured girls in a fictional runaway from home. Her photos are gorgeous, evoking the unspoken intricate relationship between women and also the wildness that lies underneath. Ebert’s shot in a field of two girls, one with a punch to the face, feels like “Girl Pictures,” but also makes the viewer stop for a moment. “We wanted to present that moment in the way I look back at that experience, like a still from a film, and surreal/almost dreamlike as many memories do in retrospect,” said Harris.
This cover captures that moment. Looking at it feels almost like you’re interrupting someone’s memory, even a punch in the face feels intimate. It’s a car crash you can’t look away from.
Speaking of car crashes you can’t look away from, “Dashboard Mary” shoots straight from the hip. It has a cinematic draw, making it a perfect second to last track. “I’ve always been interested in impulses that lie under my own life and others,” Harris said. The song is driven home by Harris’ guttural, Cranberries-like “ooo’s.” Its air pulls you home, or somewhere far away; it lands in the middle of that road. “Dashboard Mary” feels like running on a gravel road until you scrape your knee. It’s the sting of the hydrogen peroxide your mom pours in it after. The refusal of “I’m not coming home.”
When you’re making an album over two years, there’s a little wiggle room to try different things, to be experimental, to come back from a work week, and think, ‘we should try this instead.’
Things fell into place with their producer, Joel Burton, who initially recorded their demos. “It just clicked with him immediately, and we asked him if he wanted to produce an album properly…It became more of a slow chipping away process with small bouts of ‘oh that really works’ now and again,” Harris said.
While there’s a breath and difference in these tracks, they fall together smoothly, showcasing not only Harris’ ability to oscillate between sounds, but the bands too. Harris explained this may be due to “their backgrounds in classical music, or metal, etc, they have an interesting handle on when music should be loud and grating or polished and quiet.” Johnny’s Dreamworld feels like wearing a silver necklace until it turns black, because you just can’t let it go. There’s a glimmer, grit, and tarnish to every note.
Johnny’s Dreamworld, most of all, feels alive. It shakes the listener with every track, gnashing its teeth and scratching down your back. Harris explained, “The live performance really informed the record rather than the other way around.” Listening to this record, you can feel that live performance and see it through a twinkle in your eye.
Johnny’s Dreamworld is meant to be performed, with the volume all the way up.