Tragedies often bring out the best in musicians, and The Charlatans have suffered more than their fair share. ‘Modern Nature’ finds them reacting to a second death in the band, but whereas in 1996 the passing of keyboard player Rob Collins was followed by the fantastically ballsy ‘One To Another’, the death last year of drummer Jon Brookes finds the band in surprisingly breezy and life-affirming mood. This is typified by ‘Come Home Baby’ and the happy, discofied ‘Let The Good Times Be Never Ending’ – complete with athletic bass line. ‘So Oh’, with its strange similarity to a couple of 1980s tracks in the intro, is equally affirmative, as is the bright and breezy ‘Emilie’. There is a dark side though, glimpsed briefly in the mysterious parts of ‘In The Tall Grass’, but made most explicit in ‘I Need You To Know’, where Tim Burgess sings “I could have said, I should have said, it’s always the same. Can I tell you before it’s too late?” Beautifully put – and the poignant heart of an album that makes a claim for your heart after just a few listens. Clearly The Charlatans can do no wrong at the moment!
