Mesh & Lace is the debut studio album by English post-punk band Modern English. It was released on 11 April 1981, through record label 4AD. The album was reissued on CD in 1992 with seven bonus tracks. On September 28, 2019, a digitally remastered edition of Mesh & Lace was released. It also contained bonus tracks and reimagined artwork from Vaughan Oliver, who designed the original Modern English album covers on 4AD.
Heavily inspired by Joy Division,Strong, Martin C. (2003). The Great Indie Discography. Canongate. . pp. 423–424. the album is considered a pioneering work of the gothic rock and industrial genres.
Critical reception
A press release for the 2019 remastered edition stated that the album "showed the band [Modern English] to be uncompromising experimentalists, leaving some to dismiss them as pretentious, but those who hung in there discovered a groundbreaking act, laying the foundation for such future musical movements as goth and industrial."
In a retrospective online review, Trouser Press panned the album, calling it "a load of monotonous droning and shouting by a precious art band oppressively weighed down by its self-conscious 4AD pretensions."
Track listing
Personnel Robbie Grey – vocals, production Gary McDowell – guitar, vocals, production Mick Conroy – bass guitar, vocals, production Stephen Walker – keyboards, production Richard Brown – drums, production
Technical Ken Thomas – engineering Denis "BilBo" Blackham – mastering 23 Envelope – album cover design
References
External links
Mesh & Lace information at 4AD's official website