Modern Nature announce new album "The Heat Warps" out 29th August via Bella Union || Share lead track "Pharaoh" || Announce UK + US Tour

Modern Nature announce news of their new album The Heat Warps out 29th August via Bella Union and available to preorder here. To accompany the announcement the band have shared hypnotic lead single “Pharaoh”, a track recalling the Can-esque drive of frontman Jack Cooper’s work in Ultimate Painting but reimagined and ignited by the guitar partnership of Cooper and new member Tara Cunningham. Watch the video directed by Michael Stasiak HERE.

“Pharaoh’ is a song about the men we're conditioned to respect and follow and it's a song about the people who inspire us to think differently,” says Jack Cooper. “It's as much about Pharoah Sanders as it is about the kings and politicians we're meant to believe in. It’s difficult to stay aware of the world around you without becoming despondent. ‘Pharaoh’ makes the case for finding a personal philosophy and trying to live a life that might inspire others, or at the very least not hurt them.”

One additional influence on the record was Andrew Weatherall. Before he passed away, he’d played Modern Nature on his NTS show and Cooper was thrilled that he liked them. He made it an aim to make a record Weatherall might have played to his friends late at night. “His motto ‘Fail we may, sail we must’ is what ‘Pharaoh’ is about” says Cooper.

Modern Nature have also announced news of UK and US tours taking place in September, October and December. All dates are listed below:

When Modern Nature toured their last album, 2023’s No Fixed Point In Space, it became apparent to Jack Cooper – the band’s main creative force – that they were already pulling away from the free, open-ended approach they had spent five years working towards; almost as if the music had become so abstract and elasticated, it now had to snap back towards something more structured. As they found themselves naturally locking into more fixed grooves, he realised a new direction had been set. Their new album – The Heat Warps – is the triumphant manifestation of where that new direction took them.

In the aftermath, Cooper’s songwriting, which had become increasingly impressionistic, found a new focus and the idea of making an album that followed a similar path to the last two increasingly seemed somewhat obtuse. The purpose was to forge a radical change. The core trio of him, Jim Wallis (drums) and Jeff Tobias (bass guitar) were augmented by a new guitarist – Tara Cunningham. 

Modern Nature’s recent records have reflected an insular life. Cooper had moved out to the countryside in 2021 and had, in his words, been “hibernating” while he started a family. He felt this new band was a symbol for his reawakening and the perfect vessel for him to continue to explore themes that he’s sung about with Modern Nature – collectivism, our relationship with the natural world, the weight of consciousness – but with more directness and purpose. The key was the new dual guitar sound.

“I’ve always been drawn to bands where two guitarists work as a unit to move around and colour the rhythm section,” explains Cooper. “I’d been listening to the demos Television did with Brian Eno in the day and then that night I played with Tara for the first time at an improvised music show. We have a very similar approach to the guitar and that extends to the way we sing, so it gives the music an interesting balance.

“What we do is mirrored; a symmetry on either side of what Jim and Jeff are doing in the rhythm section. We’ve played with lots of amazing musicians who continue to orbit around what we do, but Tara joining the band felt like finding the other side to the square. Previous records have been performed by upwards of fifteen people but it was apparent the four of us could achieve something more powerful and more direct.”

In the time Modern Nature has been a band, the world has undoubtedly changed. The words Cooper had been writing previously were somewhat ambiguous but it had started to feel like he was sitting on the fence and that was something he needed to address.

“Every day we’re confronted with a confusing and scary world,” he says. “Making music and creating things can sometimes feel flippant or unnecessary, but my own world view was defined and influenced by art and artists who weren’t afraid to highlight and offer solutions: Public Enemy, The Smiths, and a wider American counterculture.”

“The community we’ve built our life around – artists, musicians and the people who gravitate to these things as way of communicating – are struggling to reconcile how they fit into an increasingly cruel world. This album, the themes and the lyrics are directed towards them because I think there are still reasons to be optimistic. There are amazing things happening all around us and it’s up to communities like ours to double down on the things we believe in. It feels as if being part of a group like Modern Nature and making an album that’s open, optimistic and ambitious is in itself part of the solution.”

As the new band started to play together more, the energy, excitement and telepathy between them gained momentum and it became clear they needed to make a record that captured that. They locked into a process where they booked a couple of shows, directly followed by four days in the studio. They’d spend two weeks living in each other’s pockets – a very condensed rush of creativity.

For all that the new album wrestles with the grimmer realities of 2025, The Heat Warps is ultimately not a record entirely consumed by anxieties. Its frequently beautiful sounds offer consolation and a wide-eyed optimism amid all the upheaval. Nowhere is that more apparent than on the transcendent album closer, Totality. As Cooper explains: “It was fascinating spending time in America as the country geared up for the 2024 solar eclipse. Everywhere I went, people were talking about the eclipse and for a few days it really seemed to capture the public’s imagination. 

“The day of the eclipse I was driving through New Mexico and we stopped by the side of the road with hundreds of other people gazing up to the heavens. It felt exciting to be part of something that clearly resonated with people on such a profound level. It’s a fitting album closer and somewhere in there is a philosophy; a romantic nihilism.”

And at its heart, right there is the core of Modern Nature’s appeal. Never more so than on this new record.

UK Tour:

Saturday 27 September – Blackpool – Bootleg Social tickets

Monday 29 September – Glasgow – The Old Hairdressers tickets

Tuesday 30 September – York – The Crescent  tickets

Wednesday 1 October – Sunderland – Pop Recs tickets

Thursday 2 October – Liverpool – Rough Trade tickets

Friday 3 October – Sheffield – Sidney & Matilda tickets

Saturday 4 October – Norwich – The Holloway tickets

Sunday 5 October – Coventry – Just Dropped In Records tickets

Monday 6 October – London – St Matthias Church tickets

Wednesday 8 October – Brighton – Alphabet tickets

Thursday 9 October – Ipswich – Smokehouse tickets

Friday 10 October – Wendover – British Legion tickets

US Tour:

Wednesday 10 December – Arcata – The Miniplex

Friday 12 December – Seattle – Clock Out Lounge

Saturday 13 December – Portland – Holocene

Sunday 14 December – Point Reyes – Dance palace

Monday 15 December – San Francisco – 4 Star Theater

Wednesday 17 December – Los Angeles – Gold Diggers

Thursday 18 December – Lod Angeles – Gold Diggers

The Heat Warps album artwork:

1. Pharaoh

2. Radio

3. Glance

4. Source

5. Jetty

6. Alpenglow

7. Zoology

8. Takeover

9. Totality