“We are the Modern Haze. We play retro-inspired psych-pop, and we hope you enjoy our music. We love you <3 “
Meet Modern Haze from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band members: Perry Martin on Vocals, Guitars, and Keys, and Glenn Brigman on Drums AND mixing (yesss, Glenn, representing drummers/sound engineers!!), and I also want to mention Robby Schaeperkoetter, who did the beautiful album artwork. Sometimes, looking at an album cover, I have no idea what to expect from the music, but this one strangely put me in the mood for exactly what would follow!
Enter the music! After a cool instrumental intro, which is a great warm-up (for us, not for them, even though it could be both!), the first song kicks in. The choice of chords, even more than the sound itself, puts me in the psychedelic mood. Genre labels are a funny thing, you know. I see retro-inspired psych-pop, and I am wondering exactly what that would be. By the time I am listening to the second track, I feel the Doors (and even Deep Purple at their earliest and softest) and Yes vibes. A lot of 60s grooviness here, with the only difference that this album wasn’t actually made in the 60s. But the overall sound production is very clever and very “true” to that nostalgic sound. There is a haze between the organ/Hammond parts, the guitar sound choices and the bass lines, the almost lo-fi drum sounds and the reverb/delays on the vocals, that clearly takes you back to that era, even if you were not actually alive then (and I wasn’t!).
Of course, it is almost unavoidable to not sound like The Beatles when doing this, even just a little bit, and there is nothing wrong with that. I think of all the -back to the 60s – bands I’ve listened to in the past year, this one is the least “Beatlesque”, and by the time we get to ‘The Lucky Ones”, there is a little bit more rock n roll added to the equation, nicely balanced with the psychedelic keyboard sounds and vibey guitars. On ‘Born To Be Bored’ (what an awesome track title!), they also bring some blues into the mix. As I keep listening to the album, I find enough variety to satisfy my love for an album that is cohesive yet offers different flavours of the main dish. This album is successful in doing exactly that. The sound of the band, and Perry’s vocals keep it all well glued together, there are moments of slight melancholy and moments of half-stoned joy AND (my absolute favourite, as I am a fool of long tracks that consist of different parts, like a little symphony, from Salisbury to ELO, all the way to metal), the last track of the album: ‘Whome parts 2- 4’ which is (at least to me) reminiscent of the stuff Black Sabbath did in Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and even Sabotage, and at 7.51 minutes long, it’s a great musical psychedelic trip, a sweet saying goodbye to the listener, washed in fx returns and drum fills.
If you like this sort of music, stop listening to all those famous ’60s bands again and again and listen to these guys! They are psychedelic and retro but quite fresh, with solid ideas and a sweet, sweet sound.
Written by Spiros Maus
