Modern Studies – The Weight Of The Sun

On The Weight of the Sun, chamber folk meets indie pop for a 12-song album of warm arrangements and intelligent songwriting, with class honors going to Modern Studies. The band’s principal songwriting team of Emily Scott and Rob St John artfully depict a range of human emotions with beguiling melodies, sparkling instrumentation and compellingly understated vocals. The rhythm section delights, never quite stealing the scene but embellishing every track with nuance and pulse (the bass playing is the best we’ve heard in recent memory, to be honest). This album reminds us of the delights a bibliophile would experience on being presented with a an ornately illustrated book of top quality short stories. But in this case, we close our eyes and listen to the stories while the colors dance in our minds.