Modern Classics is the latest album by St Leonards On Sea based duo Montague Armstrong whose idea of modernity is to record using ancient Hammond Organs and vintage amps. The band are Jude Montague and Matt Armstrong, this is my take on what the tunes sound like and are about.
The album opens with Genee Marc an organ led instrumental that should be accompanied by some Supermarionation, they leave their south coast lair seeking out Marina somewhere deep beneath the briny waves yet with a love for Stan Kenton style experimentation.
Coder has a distinctly French twist, they should be driving an open top Citroen, through the outskirts of Paris in the mid 60's, dubbier parts come in signalling a confrontation between extremely suave villains.
Egga should be playing in a love scene in a very brown tinted early 60's Dutch movie, that's on the borders between blue movies and romances, this is a very gentle love scene.
Olive is the dance scene in an early black & white film, almost like what the organist would play, accompanying a silent movies dance extravaganza, never quite in time with the dancers, but never totally off, something happens and a chase begins around the dance floor.
Zanne is all about the bass with flourishes of organ, that walking beat with slightly off vibes, making this a touch unsettling, never certain what might emerge from clouds of smoke surrounding them.
Turfstar is the sound of Horse Racing in the Jetsons era, or possibly they have been listening to the music made by an old Horse racing machine on the pier, slowing it down, giving it a cymbalom style texture, dark things are happening at the track.
Faramay has a cool shuffling drum beat, the Hammond twists around slowly, leading us deep into a web of intrigue, to what Faramay gets up to in her 60's travelogue, Laid back espresso bar guitar, ciggies hanging from lips, she slinks across the crowded bar.
El Diablo has a spoken word intro for the song about the Devil drifting through a landscape that keeps her from going back to heaven. The melismatic organ flutters, everyone gets hot, hot, hotter than Hell, the guitars twang in odd ways.
Baltaitina is the Latvian folk song that they know from Dudalnieki's version, they have turned it into a sci-fi dirge like fairy tale, taking us back to the ancient homelands murky goings on with the tailors in the Shtetl's unfold, I wish I understood the actual lyrics about merchants going to see with their goods.
Find Out More at https://montague-armstrong.bandcamp.com/album/modern-classics-2 https://www.facebook.com/montaguearmstrongshop
