It looks like the legacy of A Flock Of Seagulls keeps holding strong, with modern bands frequently contributing to the rediscovering of the great synthpop act's songs. Apparently that doesn't concern the mega huge hits, but also some of the less appreciated cuts, such as Modern Love Is Automatic from the band's first EP, which became the opening track to their self-titled debut album a little later.
The song is now covered by Ottawa synthpop duo, Paragon Cause, who approached the track with a more daring, experimental mindset.
"We drew on a bunch of influences, Syd Barret, Trentemoeller, David Gilmour and Psychedelic Space Rock of the 60s and 70s," Paragon Cause comment on their version of the song. "We also tried to use movies like Berberian Sound Studio by Peter Strickland as an inspiration for the tone of the first half of the song. Of course, we tried to stay true to the song, particularly the incredible guitar playing by Paul Reynolds. We never really took the time to listen to the guitar on A Flock of Seagulls songs, but after doing this, we were pretty amazed at his innovation, particularly during a time when synthesizers dominated music."
Regarding the song's production, the band reveal the technical specifications and much from the creative process which made their take sounding diverse from-, yet, respectful of the original at the same time: "We learned from our frequent collaborator Sune Rose Wagner (The Raveonettes) that sometimes, setting limitations on your work spurs creativity. The entire song was made using a Roland JX-3P synth, a Roland SE201 Space Echo, a Yamaha SPX90II for the reverb and a more modern Reverb called the Oto Bam, which is based on the earliest 60s, 70s and 80s digital reverbs, before they were perfected. If we couldn't reproduce the synths, Michelle sang the parts. So if you listen closely, you will hear some of the parts with Michelle singing processed through the equipment. For guitar, we used a Boss Chorus Flanger from the 80's to get that lush 80's tone. It was a challenging experiment, but we think it paid off."
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