Modern Nature share new single + video "Source" from upcoming album "The Heat Warps" out 29th August via Bella Union || Announce UK instore shows
Modern Nature return with their anticipated new album The Heat Warps due out 29th August via Bella Union. Following lead track “Pharaoh”, the band today share new single and LP highlight “Source”, a politically-charged track which touches on the recent riots in the UK directed towards asylum seekers and the misinformation spread online. Watch the video HERE.
Commenting on the track frontman Jack Cooper says: “Source was written in the aftermath of the 2024 UK riots, which were sparked by a campaign of misinformation aimed at asylum seekers. I found myself watching live streams of them unfolding on YouTube, despairing at what I was seeing but oddly gripped. These communities are like the one I grew up in. It's easy to condemn them and of course their actions were appalling, yet amongst all that hate, you could see people desperate for community and collectivism. I wanted to write something about how I saw it and it turned into this strangely uplifting song in the vein of ‘You Can't Always Get What You Want’ or the Beta Band's ‘Dry The Rain’. I was going to send it to Liam Gallagher but then Oasis reformed…”
Additionally, Modern Nature have announced news of a bunch of record shop instore appearances for the week of album release performing as an acoustic trio. All live 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.
Instore shows:
Friday 29 August – World of Echo – London – 5.30pm TICKETS
Saturday 30 August – Rough Trade – Denmark St (London) – 5.30pm TICKETS
Sunday 31 August – Truck – Oxford – 5.00pm TICKETS
Monday 1 September – Pie & Vinyl – Portsmouth – 1.00pm TICKETS
Monday 1 September – Vinilo – Southampton – 7.00pm TICKETS
Tuesday 2 September – South – Southend – 5.00pm TICKETS
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
