At a time when it’s all too common to find musicians trying to sidestep or avoid the references their music undoubtedly contains, it’s a pleasant surprise to find Daniel Land and Graeme Meikle- primary members of Manchester’s shoegaze-cum-ambient The Modern Painters- advocates, scholars even, of the type of output they’re creating. In Land’s case certainly, this isn’t so surprising- over the course of almost two hours in his and his band mate’s suburban dwellings, the impassioned front man makes frequent references to Brian Eno, a man who is “completely articulate about what he does, and how he feels it fits into culture;” indeed, even before the dictaphone light is red, he’s enthusing about London’s shoegaze-centric label Sonic Cathedral, fretting over the impact of the at-the-time unreleased second album from Serena-Maneesh (“it’s going be a Loveless moment for shoegaze revivalism- everything after it’s going to sound redundant”) and pondering over how his band might react to this on their next album. Graeme meanwhile leans contentedly against the windowsill, happy to let his co-founder unravel streams of consciousness; occasionally he’ll back points up with anecdotal tales, or further a claim made- a true lieutenant to his commander. There’s also the feeling though that Daniel Land & The Modern Painters simply couldn’t exist without the guitarist’s assured presence on the protagonist’s shoulder. They’ve been close friends for ten years and, as Daniel points out, it was Graeme who pushed him into becoming a vocalist and who continues to be an emotional support. Though the credits on the group’s first LP- last year’s Love Songs For The Chemical Generation- suggest things are very much Daniel-led, it’s clear that Graeme’s influence manifests itself in ways that aren’t as obviously apparent.

http://www.myspace.com/danielland

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