Release Date: Aug 23, 2019
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| How to Live album cover art |
Q Magazine: 80/100
Set the controls for the heart of somewhere very uneasy, but rather beautiful.
Mojo: 80/100
How To Live is more of a creative evolution than a total break from Cooper's previous music.
Allmusic: 80/100
Like some of the more cerebral acts of Britain's early-'70s folk-rock heyday, Modern Nature aren't a portable commodity of singles and small ideas. Their music is defiantly experimental -- though by no means impenetrable -- and best enjoyed in its long-form splendor.
Pitchfork: 76/100
Modern Nature’s songs might be heard as reminders that true escape isn’t about splitting town, ghosting everybody you know, and throwing your phone in the ocean. How To Live uncovers an internal landscape just as wide open, much easier to get to, and even harder to escape from.
Dusted Magazine: 80/100
“Nature” is the highlight here, bristling with the energy of dry, rushing drums, and yet entirely unhurried. Cooper murmurs, as always, his voice barely aspirating the consonants, and yet the song rages on in its quiet way, a sudden flare of distorted guitar breaking through, the drums bashing out on the cymbals. It’s a song that you find if you’re seeking it but could entirely miss if you weren’t on the sharp lookout. It is more than worth your close attention.
DIY Magazine: 80/100
Jack Cooper’s soft vocals are so understated that for long sections it feels like an instrumental record, but this only adds to the album’s blissful allure. It’s a delicate piece of work that somehow it manages to feel fully-formed at the same time. And it’s this contradiction that makes it such a compelling piece of work.
The Line of Best Fit: 75/100
Most disarming moments occur when things quieten down: the gently swirling, beautifully troubled “Turbulence”, for example, describes the daily grind and bustle with almost Nick Drake-ian grace and reticence. The closing "Devotee" occupies similar regions, with a propulsive, creaky organ coda that hints at what might be if Modern Nature got a bit looser next time around.
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