Modern Love Child Announces Debut LP

Modern Love Child (the pseudonym of Jonny Shane) has released the new single and video, "Ali," the third offering from his upcoming debut album, MLC, dropping October 25th, 2019.

Listen below!

Sonically, "Ali" fits in with the signature Modern Love Child "subtle blend of surf-rock joviality and classic singer-songwriter storytelling," (Born Music Online) but the story behind the song is much darker. He originally wrote this song with his high school bandmate, Greg Hillman, who was in love with a girl named Ali. When Hillman tragically died by suicide while in college, it increased Shane's drive to move to LA and focus on music. Including "Ali" on his first album was a top priority for Shane, to keep Hillman's spirit and voice alive. As he puts it, "This song reminds me that Greg is still with me on this journey every step of the way. I wasn't in love with Ali. But I was and still am in love with Greg's art / music / writing."

Since 2012, Shane has been engrossed in his own flavor of Venice, CA living: "Surf when you want to, work a sty job when you have to, make music all night." His first band, Blue Blazer, became a local favorite up and down the Sunset Strip before disbanding in 2015. As Shane began exploring a more direct, autobiographical way of writing, Modern Love Child was born. The following year, he headed to London and inked his first record deal with Believe.

Fate intertwined in 2017 when he ran into one of his musical idols, Ben Kweller, back in Venice. After chatting for a few minutes, they parted ways. Six months later, Shane was back on the east coast, visiting his hometown of Darien, CT, when he realized that he and Kweller were in line at the same coffee shop. After this serendipitous bi-coastal encounter, the two felt a need to explore this cosmic connection. "I kept running into Jonny in the most random places," Kweller says. "It was like the universe was speaking to us. As soon as Jonny sent me those original work tapes, it was clear what the universe was trying to say." Within the month, Shane was on a plane to Texas to join Kweller at his ranch outside of Austin. The two artists worked non-stop for days on demos that would become Modern Love Child's debut album, ?MLC. Once the album was written and ready to be made, Shane enlisted acclaimed producer/mixer, Charlie Russell (Alt-J, Passenger, OK Go) to record the final product.

Modern Love Child will be releasing additional material in the coming months, leading up to MLC's release in October.

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