''The Modern Medieval'' is the seventh studio album by

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

band

Something for Kate Something for Kate are an Australian alternative rock band, which formed in 1994 with Paul Dempsey on lead vocals and guitar, and Clint Hyndman on drums. They were joined in 1998 by Stephanie Ashworth on bass guitar and backing vocals. The gro ...

, released on 20 November 2020.

Background and recording

The songwriting process for ''The Modern Medieval'' began almost immediately after Dempsey released ''Strange Loop'' in 2016 and by the end of 2017, the musical side of things was relatively established. With a sense of where things were going, the trio entered La Cueva Recording with studio co-owner Nick DiDia to formally begin work on the record. Once the recording process had finished, the trio allowed the record to settle before embarking on the mixing process with Howie Beck in Canada. Paul Dempsey told ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' "All our other records have been recorded in the same studio, with the same person. You start recording, and immediately as soon as you finish recording, you start mixing, and you keep on going until it's done, and then it's all finished. We decided this time, before we even started, that we wanted to break it up into segments. We wanted to record it one place with one person, and then go home for a month, live with the rough recording, and then go somewhere else and mix it with somewhere else again. So it was three blocks, and it almost gave us three opportunities to imagine what the record could be." The recording and mixing process was officially wrapped up in November 2019. The album was scheduled for mid-2020, but was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Critical reception

''The Modern Medieval'' received critical acclaim. Jeff Jenkins from ''Stack Magazine'' said "Paul Dempsey knows how to craft a multi-layered masterpiece. His songs are beautifully constructed soundscapes" calling the album "a fine return". Mary Gleeko from ''Beat Magazine'' wrote: "''The Modern Medieval'' is an album of ten polished and slick tracks that dance with spirit and ferocious intensity."

Track listing

# "All the Great Minds" – 4:08 # "Come Back Before I Come Back to My Senses" – 3:33 # "Situation Room" – 4:30 # "Inside Job" – 4:04 # "Supercomputer" – 4:00 # "Waste Our Breath" – 4:01 # "Our Extinguished Colleague" – 3:06 # "Bluebird" – 3:51 # "Last Resort Town" – 2:52 # "I Will Defeat You" – 5:21

Charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Modern Medieval 2020 albums Something for Kate albums Albums postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic EMI Records albums