Modern English “After the Snow” 1982. Later this week we are going to the Retro Futura concert at Wisconsin State Fair which will feature Modern English along with other 80′s new wave acts English Beat (I’m particularly excited about that one), Men Without Hats, Howard Jones, Paul Young, and Katrina and the Waves. After the Snow is Modern English’s second release and features the monster smash “I Melt With You,” the most pop-orientated track on the album, along with two other singles: “Life in the Gladhouse,” a vaguely dark synth pop track with powerful tribal drums, and my favorite from the LP “Someone’s Calling,” which is also touched with shadowy romance yet still totally danceable. Overall the album is really quite good – a lot of sophisticated post punk beats and melodies (“Face of Wood” takes its sweet time to develop, as does the stark, slow burning “Dawn Chorus”). The title track, “After the Snow,” blends acoustic and electric jangly guitar and creates a dynamic tension between varying rhythms and vocal intensities (the good old “loud-quiet-loud” song structure). The album – and the title track in particular – does not feel at all dated the way that many 80′s productions do.