Model Village

https://modelvillage.bandcamp.com

Model VillagegreetingsWe are Model Village, some kind of pop group from South-ish East-ish England with a form book as long as your arm where previous bands are concerned. None of that matters now though, so come and revel in the Model Village of the future.Lily, Dan, Ian, Piers, and Kenny are the current members of the residents’ committee.World Of Carp, released 05 March 20211. Insufferable2. Oslo3. Roll It Over4. Otters5. Roles6. Sunburn7. Popular Band8. Variety Box9. Find It Out10. MiserygutsWorld of Carp is folk-pop collective Model Village’s fourth record, and it’s their best work to date. As usual, it’s a combination of fine songwriting and warmly beautiful melodicism, but this time the focus is sharper, the lyrics more smartly self-aware. Meanwhile the hooks are as keen as ever to attach themselves tightly to your consciousness - business as usual on that score, for a band now in its 12th year.Take that title, for a start. It may seem oblique on first glance, but it’s a perfect evocation of one of the record’s standout themes. As any set of DIY scene lifers will tell you, the older you get, the more questions you’ll encounter as to why you continue to plough your own furrow. But it’s easy to confuse niche appeal with broad indifference; the brighter the passion, the greater the reward. This is a labour of love, and the ensuing joy positively drips from the speakers across each of the ten songs here.‘Insufferable’ opens the album with a dollop of effortless pop classicism; think The Shins playing Blondie (or possibly the other way around) while vocalist Lily Rose reels off a tale of getting older while still doing the same things you enjoyed in your youth. Again, it serves as a neat metaphor for being in a band, but equally it’s a wholly relatable tale of nostalgia, reckless abandon and encroaching wisdom - the perfect balm for wistful hearts as the nights draw in.Meanwhile, ‘Roles’ and ‘Variety Box’ explore problematic relationships; the former a detailed dismissal of a bad date who says the right things but doesn’t actually believe them (“another guy who’s done their reading”), while the latter is a stark, honest look at the complex and contradictory feelings that come from the dissolution of an abusive coupling. This is the first time Rose has taken on lead vocal duties for an entire Model Village album, but it gives both her lyrics and remarkably expressive voice a chance to fully flex their muscle. This is all framed with tastefully sophisticated pop that calls to mind The Carpenters one minute, Yo La Tengo the next, and Prefab Sprout after that, before taking a shot at creating new standards - culminating in a very English take on the Great American Songbook. Other standouts include ‘Popular Band’ - a more wryly explicit look at band life (“We don’t put the hours in / We are part time punks… We once played an encore / But that’ll never happen again”) set to an infectiously light funk that’s part Chic, part Beautiful South at their best. And then there’s ‘Miseryguts’, a doom-laden ballad decrying the insidious influence of conspiracy theories - timely, given the state of the world right now, but the sweeping beauty of the melody is enough to ease your worries... for four and a half minutes, at least.Elsewhere across the album there are explorations of indecision, political frustration and domesticity, all enmeshed with a subtle knack for honing in on the existential enormity of everyday minutiae. In the world Model Village describe, songs are sung off-key or heard on distant radios; communication is murky and fragile; friends reminisce about being ‘too old to day drink’ but ‘too young to lose’. Luckily for us their articulation of these sentiments is crystal clear and wholly absorbing - World of Carp is a treat for the ears and a welcome return for one of the UK’s best underground bands.

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Country: United Kingdom (GB)

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