The 1981 Listening Post - Modern English - Mesh & Lace

Modern English - Mesh & Lace #125 April 6 1981 Modern English Mesh & Lace 2.5 out of 5 Before they melted with us, Modern English was a 4AD band that didn’t make much of a mark, apparently. I accidentally started listening to the CD version of this record which opens with “Gathering Dust”, a metro trip of swelling guitars and synth sounds. I loved it. And then the rest of the album kicked in… And I’m not sure what I would have thought if I was a “I Melt With You” fan who decided to go back into the band’s catalog and I heard this opening track “16 Days” with it’s static and Joy Division drums. It seems designed to make you either hate it or grab some Mollie to enjoy it. But there wasn’t; Mollie back then, was there? This has all the markings of a group trying to figure out what it wants to be while fervently declaring itself vital to the scene. But, also, super boring. https://music.apple.com/us/album/mesh-lace/1452734695