Title aside, Jill Andrews’ latest Modern Age is very much steeped in the past, making for a deeply nostalgic, sometimes melancholy, but ultimately charmingly sweet album.
Songs like the lead-off track “80’s Baby,” with its references to Mario Kart and scanning the aisles at Blockbuster over a beautiful piano soundtrack; and “Kids” looking back and wondering what happened to the different cliques growing up – the cool kids, the quiet kids, and the mean kids – mine the past for songs that are relatable to just about anyone. A song like “Better Life” bridges the past to future looking at what might have been. It helps that Andrews’ vocals are nearly flawless and the music walks a tightrope between sad and contemplative.
The genesis of Modern Age dates to a trip Andrews took back to her childhood home a few years ago to sing in a memorial service of a childhood friend. Back home she was flooded with old memories of growing up and how different things have turned out. “When I was a kid, I never imagined the world would be like this,” said Andrews. “Looking back on it now, I feel like I am an observer from the future. In the period of time that I have been alive, so much about human behavior has changed, my own included. 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.”
Those takes on adulthood here are just as affecting. “Wrong Place, Wrong Time,” in particular is stunningly beautiful with the sparce piano and Andrew’s achingly emotive voice. Almost as impressive is the melancholy “Dark Days” with Ben Cramer singing back-up.
A longtime figure on the Nashville music scene, Andrews is part of the duo Hush Kids alongside Peter Groenwald and co-founder of the Indie folk band The Everybodyfields. Modern Age marks Andrews’ first LP since 2020’s Thirties, following a couple of EPs, and finds her at the top of her game, feeling nostalgic but still firmly rooted in the now.
