The genesis and the future of Modern Woman
On holiday earlier on in the year, I caught an upcoming British act playing Arena Wien, an abandoned slaughterhouse turned offensively cool music venue on the outskirts of Vienna. Opening for Ezra Furman, Modern Woman hurdled any potential awkwardness that can come with being a support act like Olympians, filling the space with their stage presence and an eclectic mix of influences. Months later, I navigate a dodgy internet connection (on my end) to speak to the band’s frontwoman and progenitor, Sophie Harris, on the band’s genesis and where they’re going next.
Photo: Sandra Ebert
How did you get started as a musician?
It took some time actually. I didn’t get into playing guitar until I was like thirteen, fourteen, which felt like it was really late. I don’t think it’s that late now, just at that age there were already lots of kids playing guitar. My grandad could play guitar, and I think that was an influence – he would play a lot of songs I would like, and he was really into country and folk. So at first it was guitar mainly, and I didn’t start singing until I was eighteen. That was simply because we didn’t have a singer in the band I was in at the time, so I had to step up and do that. It went from there really. It took quite a while to get the confidence to play live, and it started as just me and my guitar, and eventually developed into a band.
Would you say that Modern Woman is a collaborative venture, or are you the creative impetus behind it?
It’s definitely collaborative in the sense that we’re a band, and what people bring is very important to the sound. But I do bring the songs, aside from ‘Johnny’s Dreamworld’, which we wrote together. That was the first time we’d ever done that; it was good fun. At the beginning, I had quite a strong idea of the direction I wanted the project to go in, and it developed into a band by proxy because of what people were bringing.
The latest singles you’ve put out have all had really great music videos to go alongside them. How do you use visuals to explore Modern Woman as a project, and your identity as an artist?
I think music videos are really under-used now. It wasn’t until we signed to this record label that we even had the finances properly to make videos, so that was quite exciting. I got quite encouraged by the idea of having something to go alongside these songs that we’d been working on for so long. And I don’t think music videos are used as much anymore! Why would you put loads of money into music venues? It’s quite rare that people sit down and watch them. That’s just the reality of how music has gone, just because of no MTV etc. But I struggled with that idea, because I think visuals alongside songs are amazing, and I always grew up watching music videos on YouTube. So it was important to me to make sure that the music videos fit the songs whilst being interesting within themselves. When I sat down and thought about it, I wanted them to be varied but still have a theme running through them all. Still have a feeling running through them all.
What would you say that theme, that feeling is?
It’s that uncanny, weird feeling. I definitely wanted there to be a sense of strangeness. I don’t really like it when music videos are literally acting out what’s happening in songs, so it was important to me to not do that. I wanted there to be links to the songs, but I didn’t want it to be on-the-nose. I also didn’t want to be in all of them. At the beginning of this project, I got together a lot of reference images for how I wanted to present the project and what I wanted the songs to work towards, and I think we worked off that vision throughout. So I would show that to, for example, Joseph Brett, who did the animation [for ‘Neptune Girl’] and then he took it away and did that entire stop-motion by himself.
Photo: Sandra Ebert
Do you have any favourite music videos that you find yourself going back to?
The number one which I always think about – which I don’t think came across in any of our music videos – is the really famous Radiohead one where the water’s slowly filling up.
‘No Surprises’?
Yeah! It’s such a simple concept but it makes so much sense in regard to the song. There’s also a really good Kylie Minogue video – I can’t remember what it’s for! I was shown it by my cousin, who’s really into film stuff. She’s walking around in a circle on a street and stuff’s happening all around her. I think they’re quite simple, the videos that I really like. I directed the ‘Dashboard Mary’ music video one and that definitely wasn’t simple! But I do love really simple music videos, where you have a really strong idea like that.
The ‘Dashboard Mary’ one is my favourite of yours! You sat in the snow is a fantastic visual.
It was very very cold. Very very very cold.
I saw you guys perform in Vienna supporting Ezra Furman. What was that tour like?
Oh my god, it was so good. We’ve known Liz [Ezra Furman’s offstage name] for a while now, and did a few dates with her a few years ago. Watching them play each night was just the highlight of our evening. I think she’s such an underappreciated artist – she’s so good, and the way she writes songs is just incredible. Also to be able to hang out, it was really nice to be able to share some time with her. Hopefully we’ll hang out again soon!
Did you have a favourite city or venue on the tour?
I really liked Vienna. I really really loved Paris. We’d never played in Paris before. It was the Cabaret Sauvage. It was a round venue, an indoor cabaret tent, and it was just a really nice atmosphere. The show went really well, and it was really nice to play to a French audience. They seemed to really like it, which was encouraging!
You sing in quite a lot of different vocal styles. Would you say you have quite eclectic influences?
A lot of the performance and the vocals aren’t necessarily thought through, or sat down and considered. I try and recreate a mood, rather than consciously trying to translate an influence. I have a lot of people that I love, and who vocally I have been incredibly impressed with, and I think with time that probably has come out in some of the ways I approach the vocals. But it’s interesting, I’ve had comparisons to people who I’ve never really listened to. I’ve never really listened to The Pretenders, but I get that a lot! It’s interesting when people talk about influences, because I think a lot of the time it’s not consciously pushed through in what I’m doing. When I was in my early twenties I loved female vocalists who really pushed feeling, but not in a theatrical way. Sister Rosetta Thorpe was a huge one for me – the way that she sings is unbelievable. Odetta as well, and Nina Simone.
How would you say the band has evolved from its genesis to where you are now, and where you’re headed next?
I think it’s evolved in the sense that we’ve just spent more time together. So we have our ways of approaching things, we have our ways of writing and finishing songs, and even recording. I definitely think that the next recording process I need to let things go more easily. I’ve heard this before, that it’s hard to let songs go, and it is so hard. I really struggled at every step to be like, ‘that’s done’ – the mixing and the production, and finishing the songs. You end up getting really fixated and over-listening. It’s like no other artform really – maybe writing – where you have so many elements that you have to get right, and want to sound a certain way. The mix engineer was so good, and so patient. I was taking it one way, and then bringing it back – and it would just end up the way it was at the beginning! I would hope that going forward I’ll get a bit better at that, and then we can get stuff out faster!
What’s coming down for the line for you and for Modern Woman?
I want to play in Sheffield more! We’ve only played in Sheffield once, which really upsets me, because I love Sheffield. We’ve got festivals through the summer, playing End of the Road and Green Man. We have a headline show on the 6th May. And then at the end of the year we are going to do our first headline tour. So we’re going to be going around the UK. That’s exciting because once the record’s out, we won’t be playing songs that people can’t then listen to when they go home. So I’m really excited to tour the record. And I’m excited to play in Sheffield again, because it’s just ridiculous that we’ve only played there once.
Modern Woman’s debut album, Johnny’s Dreamworld, was released last Friday. You can listen to it here.
Words: Edie McQueen
