Interview: Modern Woman

London-based indie rockers Modern Woman have crashed the party with their debut record Johnny's Dreamworld, a high-energy eclectic treat for the ears, which digs deep into the inner workings and musings of frontwoman Sophie Harris. The Mic's Liz Clarke sits down for a brief interview, undeterred by some initial technical issues...

Johnny's Dreamworld is the name of one of the tracks on the album, and also of the album itself. What made that song and title stand out?

I just felt like it worked as a title. This album feels like a compilation of songs from like, the past ten years or so, so I really liked the idea that every song was a little thought or memory or experience or story, you know, within this whole... dream world. The title of the song, meanwhile, that also came from trying to articulate the inner workings of a person's mind I guess!

This makes a lot of sense as the whole record does have that sense of joy and wonder hanging over it. How do you choose what you're going to write about, and what in particular were you trying to communicate with more of the songs on this album?

Most of my songs just come from what I'm interested in, I suppose. I have a mind that kind of wanders a lot, and that leads to being very interested in exploring the underbelly of things rather than what's on the surface. I think a lot of great musicians try to do that, but I'm still learning of course. I like to flip the bonnet.

Is there a particular song that you'd say exemplifies this approach or do you think it runs through all of them?

I think it runs through all of them but Neptune Girl, I'd say, exemplifies it quite well. It's about a friend who died when I was really, really young and trying to process how I felt about that.

That must have been a horrible thing to go through as well, gosh.

Yeah, it was tough but I guess it exemplifies what I'm interested in: as I'm kind of looking at it with hindsight in the song, reflecting on how I felt back then but kind of within the present. That's one where I went really deep for it.

Speaking of Neptune Girl, actually, I watched the animated music video this morning - absolutely beautiful. Where did the idea come from to have it be stop-motion animated?

I think it mainly came from the fact that I met the animator years ago, he's called Joseph Brett and he's really amazing. He did a claymation of a Buffy The Vampire Slayer theme title, he chucked up bits of the series on screen, even the letters were animated and it was absolutely amazing. We get along really well and somewhere the idea just spawned that I wanted the video to be animated, I didn't want it to have me in it, like I wanted it to be someone else's vision as well. So I just gave the idea to Joe, so I didn't expect that he'd do it but he was keen to, he did it all himself and I didn't really have anything to do with it, that's how talented he is. He just came out with this amazing video and I'm so, so happy.

Going back to the album a little more broadly, you've got a really unique and interesting vocal style. To mention a label mate of yours at One Little Independent, it reminds me a little of Björk at times, but it's entirely your own. Did you develop your vocal style consciously or did it develop itself over time?

I definitely didn't consciously start singing how I do now, but I also didn't start singing until I was 18, which was when I moved to London, until that point I just wanted to be a guitarist. The first person I met when I moved is now the bass player in the band Sorry, and we formed a band for a little while, realised we were both guitarists but that we didn't have a singer, so I decided to do it myself. It took me a long time to develop my confidence more, Modern Woman sort of started as a solo project and I started trying to develop my voice alone there, but once the band was in and I had to project more to be heard over the instruments, I became less self-conscious about it.

I'm just trying to be genuine in my singing and a lot of my favourite singers do that, like Etta James, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and then I also really love Sinead O'Connor. I never sat down and said I wanted to sound like anybody, I just wanted to get all of my expression through without it being too theatrical.

That's really nice. How did you meet your current bandmates, and was it an immediate musical connection or did another connection come first?

Definitely an immediate musical connection. We clicked immediately, I'd rehearsed with other people before and it just hadn't worked, whether it was because of personality or because even if they were good musicians and nice people, they just didn't get the songs.

I met David (violinist) first, through a mutual friend who used to do theatre compositions at the uni I went to, I asked him if he knew a violinist and he put us in touch, so for a while we performed onstage just us two.

Then, I met Juan (bassist) also through a mutual friend in music, whose flatmate happened to be Will, the drummer! And we just clicked immediately as musicians, they bring new dimensions to the songs and honestly just get it.

What, more broadly, do you hope people get out of this album, and who would you recommend it to?

I just... I hope people aren't bored to be honest! Different people get different things out of different music, and also have tastes that you wouldn't necessarily expect. So that's it really, I just hope people aren't bored no matter what else they come away thinking, so I like to switch things up and have a lot of different sounds. I like records that are really tight like, say Carrie and Lowell, where the sound is quite consistent throughout, so I do like the idea of being able to make a record that tighter than this one and still have it be exciting. I'd like for them to see the movements and emotions in the words as well and I really hope that comes through!

As for who I'd recommend it to, I don't actually know! Like I said, everybody has different taste and sometimes you can't quite anticipate it. I guess I hope everybody listens to it and some of those people like it!

I like it, so that's a start.

Well then, I'd recommend it to you!

Stream Jonny's Dreamworld on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5ZJ5w2QxNb3b6hDxVo7mAE?si=3CiVZF0eRhmTJv_Oh2QWgw&utm_source=copy-link

Modern Woman play the Bodega on January 30th 2027, with support TBC. Tickets available here via Alt Tickets: https://www.alttickets.com/modern-woman-tickets/nottingham-the-bodega/2027-01-30-19-00.

Liz Clarke

Edited by Liz Clarke

Images provided courtesy of Black Arts PR; third image by Sal Redpath