– Ahead of her anticipated new album Modern Age arriving August 18th, Nashville singer-songwriter Jill Andrews released her new single ‘80’s Baby‘ today. With the slow burning nostalgic leadoff track, Andrews remarks with wistfulness on just how different the world has come to be since the days of making mixtapes and cruising the cul-de-sacs.
Of the new single, Andrews stated, “I grew up in a small town in East Tennessee. We lived in middle class suburbia with green lawns, fenced dogs, and nice neighbors for the most part. If my homework was done, I had freedom to run around the neighborhood and explore with my friends. Friday night was a trip to Blockbuster and The Dairy Queen for a couple chocolate dipped cones for my brother and I. My family would all gather on the couch with a bowl of popcorn to watch the latest Indiana Jones movie. As a child, I loved the feeling of togetherness with my friends and family. My life was centered around other people. In writing this song, I was comparing my experience of childhood to my own children’s. There has been more isolation in their experiences brought on by the pandemic and by the proliferation of personal devices. Now kids can be entertained at every moment. The outdoors isn’t as exciting as watching television or playing video games. There isn’t as much time to dream and create. It makes me miss the simplicity of my childhood and wish that I could go back in time a few decades and take my kids with me.”
Standing at the intersection of memory lane and tomorrow, Modern Age is an ode to simpler times, an album that goes beyond nostalgia to veneration of what were to so many, the golden years. It’s a stunning reflection on how far we’ve all come, but one that leaves the listener wondering about the price of “progress.” Produced by Lucas Morton at 4115 Studios, it features ten tracks that range from anthemic, pop dreams with ethereal synths and rich vocals, to intimate acoustic confessions. It’s a meditation on childhood and changing times, growing up and looking back. In moments, the epitome of 90s pop perfection with airy synths and shimmering vocals and in others, pared down and heart-wrenchingly intimate, Modern Age is dripping in reverence for a simpler time, when the world was as big as your high school, when love was waiting by the phone, when we wondered about the future instead of lived in it. With addictive melodies that evoke Susannah Hoffs and Kate Bush, Modern Age is at once a time capsule of and a love letter to the places we all began.
With thoughtful and brilliant performances by an all-star cast of musicians including Tyler Chester (Sara Bareilles, Jackson Brown, Madison Cunningham), Juan Solorzano (Becca Mancari, Mary Gauthier, Michaela Anne), Graham Bechler (Erin Rae, Allen Stone), Anthony Da Costa (Sunny War, Molly Tuttle, Yola), and special guests Ben Cramer (Old Sea Brigade) and Becca Mancari on backing vocals, Modern Age remembers an era where the rhythm of life played slower, when we rewound cassette tapes with our fingertips, and talked on the phone for hours.
“This album for me is about looking back. It’s about all the gains and losses. It’s a juxtaposition of childhood and adulthood. It’s the simplicities and complexities that surround both. And figuring out where I belong within it all.”
Watch the official video for ‘Connection’
Watch the official video for ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time’
Watch the official video for ‘High Fives’
Listen to ‘Dark Days’
Listen to ‘Better Life’ (feat. Becca Mancari)
Modern Love Track Listing:
1) 80’s Baby
2) Connection
3) High Fives
4) Better Life
5) Kids
6) Wrong Place, Wrong Time
7) Dark Days
8) Patience (feat. Anthony Da Costa)
9) Sensitive
10) Boundless Love
The Modern Love UK Tour Dates:
27 August – The Long Road Festival, Leicestershire, UK
29 September – St Augustine’s Church, Derry, UK+
30 September – Black Box, Belfast, UK+
2 October – Band on the Wall, Manchester, UK
3 October – Acapela, Cardiff, UK
4 October – Green Note, London, UK
5 October – The 1865, Southampton, UK
6 October – Blue Sky Café, Bangor, UK
7 October – Classic Grand Social Lounge, Glasgow, UK
8 October – Liverpool Philharmonic, Liverpool, UK
+Supporting Matt Deighton
