Modern Skirts

Celebrating the Release of All of Us in Our Night

originally published October 1, 2008

When you're a sweetheart band in your hometown but you're unknown on the road, things can get a little dispiriting. But the four guys in Modern Skirts take their downs with their ups and laugh at the incongruities between bashful Athens fans asking for an autograph and a dude - one of just four or five people in a North Carolina bar - walking past the stage mid-song and yelling, "You guys suck!" The Skirts take it in stride, though. "That's the kind of stuff we live for!" says singer/songwriter Jay Gulley over drinks one afternoon last week. What could be a bummer for a young band is testament to the Skirts' confidence in their songs and their abilities, developed over the past four years since the release of their well received debut full-length album Catalogue of Generous Men.

That sense of confidence is at play on All of Us in Our Night, the band's long-time-coming second disc, which will be released locally this week. The disc sees the four-piece move away from the ubiquitous vocal harmonies of the first album while still maintaining a high melodicism; it's clean without being slick, earnest without being saccharine, and forceful without being overbearing. "I like that it's very different than the first one. Not to dis the first one, but there's a lot more of us in it," says drummer John Swint. "A lot more of how we feel. A lot more of our real emotions in this album, I feel like."

Adds multi-instrumentalist/songwriter JoJo Glidewell, "We had a lot more control over [recording], which I think is what led to that. The last one we had Geoff Melkonian produce it, and we were a lot more new at it, so we kind of let him make the decisions. This one was a lot more us arguing for what we wanted out of it. We did that with every aspect of it where we got sick of it, exhausted with it, but it is more what we wanted, which was the goal."

The band spent a week in Virginia recording tracks with David Lowery (Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven), before heading to New Orleans for two weeks during Mardi Gras earlier this year to work on some other tracks on their own. Gulley calls Lowery a "hands-on kinda guy," while Glidewell adds, "David was a pretty aggressive producer, and we butted heads with him some, and part of the time he was absolutely right, and other times we fought for what we wanted and made the right decision."

The two recording sessions also differed in attitude, says the band. Virginia was a professional environment where the guys would work 10-hour days in a studio, then retire to write more songs inspired by some of the in-studio activity. Many of those songs were brought down to New Orleans, and New Orleans was, well… New Orleans, with all the debauchery, living it up and distractions that the city can provide, as well as its anything-goes attitude.

"One of the cool things about New Orleans is that we had the confidence to go into the studio and the experience under our belts to know what we wanted," says songwriter/guitarist Phillip Brantley.

Says Gulley, "[On] Catalogue of Generous Men we were new to the process and we were worried about our imperfections, whereas on this one we kind of embraced them and let them shine." Adds Glidewell, "Yeah, on the first album, when I listen to it now, it sounds too clean, too perfect to me now. I can hear where we cleaned up all the idiosyncrasies that make a song really come to life, especially when you play it live."

It's the sort of soulful, tender eclecticism that's not too dissimilar from Badly Drawn Boy's early albums, and All of Us in Our Night is winningly diverse. A subtle melancholy absent from the cheery Catalogue of Generous Men is more prominent on this record, and the songs have a tendency to keep their quiet moments going until vocal or instrumental swells burst forth almost inevitably. "For the people who couldn't digest Catalogue, this might be easier or more interesting for them," says Swint.

The track "Motorcade" so pleased R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills that he produced the song and showed up onstage to help the guys perform it when Modern Skirts opened a recent R.E.M. show in Europe. All members of the band contribute to the songwriting, and individual voices are more prominent than on the past album. Glidewell's jaunty piano, a longtime hallmark of the band's sound, isn't quite as heavy on this album, but on tracks like "Radio Breaks" it's still unmistakably the same band. That track, though, also shows the band taking more risks and exploring more sounds; it closes out with some brass provided by New Orleans high school horn players during the Louisiana sessions.

This week sees three separate events intended to celebrate the new album. The first, a listening party at downtown cinema Ciné, takes place on Wednesday, Oct. 1. The tickets are limited to about 100, and cost $10 each, with all proceeds to benefit local musician's resource center Nuçi's Space. The listening party will feature an exhibit of artwork (cover artist Sanithna Phansavanh created a painting inspired by each track on All of Us in Our Night) as well as a straight run-through of the album with complementary video projection.

"We were down in New Orleans. We were listening to some of the stuff that was really sonically rich," says Glidewell, who organized the event, "and I thought 'God, it'd be great if we could listen to this in a real big space with nice sound.'" Adds Gulley, "We're really happy with it, and want to share the album in kind of a check-out-what-we-can-do kind of way. Like artwork on the fridge, y'know?"

Friday, Oct. 3 is this week's tent-pole event for the new album, with the band performing at the 40 Watt Club with Venice Is Sinking opening. The band says that they'll play every track off the new album at the show, alongside old reliables, and mentions a possibility of later this year performing the album live in its entirety, once "people get used to the new songs," says Brantley. Producer David Lowery will be in town and will likely join the band onstage for a song or two. Finally, the band will perform at Watkinsville bed-and-breakfast Ashford Manor on Monday, Oct. 6, for its Concerts on the Lawn series.

A fall tour is in the works as the band shops the album around to national independent labels. For now, it'll be available at shows, with the goal of a larger release - supporting label or no - in early 2009. "I think we're at the point where we're needing people to hear it," says Brantley. "If we were fresh out of the studio, I might be a little nervous about it, but we're ready for people to hear what we've done."

Chris Hassiotis

WHAT: All of Us in Our Night Listening Party
WHERE: Ciné
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 1
HOW MUCH: $10

WHO: Modern Skirts, Venice Is Sinking
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 3
HOW MUCH: $8 (advance), $10 (door)

WHO: Modern Skirts
WHERE: Ashford Manor
WHEN: Monday, Oct. 6
HOW MUCH: $12, $5 (children 6–12), FREE! (children under 6)