Holding Absence - Modern Life Is Lonely (Blue, Purple & Gold Marble Vinyl)

Blue, Purple & Gold Marble Blend Vinyl LP

This edition of Modern Life Is Lonely is a single LP on blue, purple and gold marble blend vinyl. It comes in a die-cut gatefold jacket with six interchangeable cover art prints and an obi strip, with an 8-page booklet and a download card inside. Sumerian Records sells its own colorways, a picture disc and a deluxe box through its store, each under a different barcode.

It is the fourth album from the Cardiff band and their first for Sumerian, after three albums on SharpTone. Lucas Woodland, Scott Carey and Benjamin Elliott began the sessions with Dan Weller and made most of the record with producer Daniel Braunstein. Woodland has described working with Braunstein as "transformative."

The album's subject is what technology does to human connection. "Life has changed, but humanity hasn't," Woodland told Rock Sound. "Beauty and unity; those things are exactly the same. It's just now we have a barrier between us and it." The band drew on Porter Robinson's Nurture and Ninajirachi's I Love My Computer, and tracked guitars at least 40 bpm slower than usual to keep the chords clean, which Woodland called "the most hyperpop thing you could do in alt-rock."

Side B carries two interludes, the acoustic "shells_like_us.int" and the lo-fi "lullaby.int," and closes on "Kyoto Snow," a love song sung in English, Welsh, French and Japanese. "Heaven" was the fourth and final single, with a video directed by Danny Land. The album was first scheduled for August 28, 2026 and moved to September 18 because of manufacturing issues with the physical editions.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Reanimate
2. Reflection
3. Heaven
4. Modern Life Is Lonely
5. Take Me With You

Side B

1. shells_like_us.int
2. Whisper Of A Dream
3. Lucid Love
4. Scorched Earth
5. lullaby.int
6. Kyoto Snow