Modern Woman’s Sophie Harris on becoming a fully-fledged band, literature & Joel Burton

Harris, who holds an English degree with a focus on poetry, started out her career performing solo at spoken word events she ran, but later evolved into a fully-fledged project after additions of bassist Juan Brint-Gutiérrez, violinist, keyboardist and percussionist David Denyer and Adam Blackhurst on drums. But how did Modern Woman evolve into a fully fledged band?

“I never wanted to be a solo artist necessarily. I always wanted to have a band. It was just a case of finding those people and making sure those people matched with the music and understood like we're on the same page,” Harris stated. “It's actually quite hard to find the right people for a band, and so it took a lot of time, like the comings and goings of different people, before we found the right person. But it just developed because that was what I thought would work and what I always wanted, really. It was just I didn't know anyone, and my ex-boyfriend said you have to just start playing live, so that's what I did,” the band’s frontwoman finished.

The advice from Harris’ ex-boyfriend paid dividends. As Harris continued to perform, the ensemble gradually grew as she was joined by the aforementioned Denyer; Brint-Gutiérrez, who suggested the band’s name ‘Modern Woman'; and Blackhurst on drums, thus completing the full-piece line-up currently in place.

Harris’ literature background is certainly evident in the band’s songwriting that is poetic and literary. Throughout history, numerous high-profile artists with a strong literary sense have emerged, such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C., and The Doors’ Jim Morrison, underlining a strong pathway between the worlds of music and literature. The crossover appeal was also there for Harris herself.

“When you're a teenager, I do think you get introduced to a lot of people like that, and I got introduced to Morrison; I got introduced to Bob Dylan; I got introduced to Patti Smith; I got introduced to these people slowly, and I was just so obsessed with music that when they would then go on to sort of reference books or talk about poetry, like Jim Morrison, there's so much poetry that he's influenced by. I kind of went on to read a lot of that stuff because of him and then also a lot of the French symbolists because of Patti Smith. I went on to read, and then I ended up actually doing my like dissertation on French symbolist poetry just because I think it was through music that I kind of got interested in it.

“I also wrote a lot of stuff (about) Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. I kind of tried to write a lot of stuff on lyrics at uni because I think that lyrics sometimes get a bit left behind, especially in highbrow literary environments. It wasn't really until I listened to all this music and started reading what they were referencing that I kind of got really into English just from my own interest, so I was definitely introduced to literature, I'd say, literature as a whole thing through music, and I really – it kind of goes hand in hand for me,” Harris concluded.

When describing Modern Woman’s sound, there is a perfect blend of delicacy and abrasion. There are times when the music is driven by instinct, there are times when the music is driven by control, and there are moments that shift between calmness and tension so seamlessly it's truly impressive. When speaking to Harris, I admitted my first exposure to the four-piece’s music came during a period spent playing Grand Theft Auto 5.

"It's funny you say that,” she responded. “A lot of people were actually playing Red Dead Redemption when we were recording, so maybe the Rockstar Games thing came through a little bit,” she added. And how did the band go about blending those elements so seamlessly? “I think it was like a conscious thing for sure, and I think we kind of tried to like amp it up as much as possible in the recording process; we did when we sort of composed those songs, like it was very much important to us to sort of like have those conflicts, but I think when we kind of brought it to Joel Burton, who was also playing Red Dead Redemption," she admitted.

“He was really keen to sort of amp it up even more and kind of do it in ways that made sure that we sort of recorded a lot of stuff live. Just to make sure that the natural sort of progression of dynamics was really evident. I think the main way that I sort of noticed that was he was incredible working with me on vocals. He'd tell me to just go back in the studio, multiple times, and he'd be like, 'So I feel like you can do this better,' and there were a couple of times where I was frustrated. I feel like that was good, but he was just so good at getting a performance out of someone, and he produced Naima Bock’s record before us. He's still really young, and he's just so really talented in the way that he sort of directed us, and I think that a lot of that abrasion comes through a combination of our songwriting but also his approach to the music. I definitely would say that’s a key theme we definitely wanted to put across because it's an element of shock, isn't it, as well as emotion, but it's also like elements of shock, I guess,” Harris finished.

Modern Woman will tour Johnny’s Dreamworld this Autumn, starting with a date at Leeds’ Hyde Park Book Club in October. Tickets are available at https://modernwoman.band/live