Spotlight - Modern Ideas (Blog)

Modern Ideas: Human Feelings Through Cold Machine Sounds

Justin is the Melbourne-based musician behind Modern Ideas, a project built on a quietly radical premise — that synthetic, electronic forms can be a more authentic vehicle for human emotion than anything acoustic or organic. The result is slightly gloomy, emotionally honest synth-pop that draws deeply from the well of 1980s British music while remaining entirely, sometimes uncomfortably, personal.

Origin Story: A Synth in the Garage

Justin spent years writing songs and playing in indie guitar bands before a single afternoon in his garage changed everything. "Last year, I dusted off an old synth in my garage and started writing a different type of song," he explains. "A song crafted entirely from a drum machine and synths. It seemed to have a clearer emotional intensity than my guitar-written songs. This surprised me."

That surprise became a revelation. Justin discovered that for him, the antithesis is the point — human feelings expressed through cold machine sounds reveal something that warmer, more conventional instrumentation conceals. That pivotal moment gave birth to Modern Ideas and, by his own admission, a full-blown synth music obsession.

The motivation to keep making music at all runs even deeper. "If I don't write songs everything else in my life feels worse," Justin says plainly. "Songwriting is like a medication. So in that sense, finding a way to maintain a semblance of personal happiness inspired me to pursue music. And still does."

The Sound and the Influences

Modern Ideas sits at the intersection of several genres — synth-pop, darkwave, post-punk, new romantic, new wave, and dream pop — but the emotional core is consistent: disconnection, vulnerability, and resilience, rendered in sound that nods unmistakably to England in the 1980s.

The influences Justin names read like a definitive playlist of that era's finest:

Depeche Mode (a heavy, admitted primary influence)
New Order
Human League
Tears For Fears
The Smiths
The Cure

People who meet Justin often describe him as affable and laid-back — which makes the emotional rawness of his lyrics something of a revelation. "People generally say that I'm an affable and laid-back person, so they can be surprised when they hear my emotionally raw lyrics," he says. "But pain lives in everyone. I'm trying to be honest about that."

Inside the Creative Process

Modern Ideas begins in Justin's garage studio, and the process has a loose but reliable architecture. It starts with a LinnDrum drum machine pattern, moves to a scuzzy Mini Moog bass synth part, then layers in melodic lines and textures drawn from vintage synth emulations — the ARP 2600, E-mu II, Jupiter-8, Solina strings, and Yamaha DX7 among them.

"This sounds like a rigid process but it's very intuitive and improvised," Justin clarifies. "I don't consider myself a particularly accomplished musician but I trust my ears and let them guide me into the song's emotion." Lyrics come last, shaped to match whatever emotional world the music has already opened up.

The guiding principle — almost a manifesto — is juxtaposition. Justin actively seeks out contradictions now, believing they expose more than comfort or consistency ever could. "I hope the listener can feel emotional insights from the ambiguity of my music," he says.

Debut Release: This Is How It Hurts

Modern Ideas' first release, This Is How It Hurts, is both an introduction and an immediate statement of intent. The song explores romantic isolation and pain, but its emotional undercurrent is one of resilience — "giving up but not giving in," as Justin puts it, particularly in the face of subtly coercive behaviour.

"The biggest surprise for me was the extent to which the cold electronic music I was making could express real flesh-and-blood human emotion. I already knew this juxtaposition works. So many great bands have done it before me. I just didn't realise I could do it too. This changed everything for me."

The themes running through Modern Ideas' broader catalogue are unflinching: living with chronic pain, depression, and disconnection. "Lyrically, I'm fairly confessional," Justin admits. "Perhaps too much so."

You can find This Is How It Hurts and follow the project on Bandcamp at modernideas.bandcamp.com.

What's Next

Justin is currently focused on completing the Modern Ideas album, with ambitions to tour the east coast of Australia once it's finished — playing the material live with a full band. He's a firm believer in the power of live performance above all other promotional strategies, and in building a loyal local fan base as the foundation for anything that follows.

In the meantime, there's a second single on the horizon: Everybody Calls Me Except You, which Justin describes as "one of my more melancholic and slow-burning synth-pop songs." If the debut is anything to go by, it's worth watching for.

Part of Melbourne's Music Community

Beyond his own project, Justin is a genuine participant in Melbourne's thriving local music scene — attending gigs, making friends, and absorbing what he describes as an exceptionally high standard of local talent. He gives particular mention to Human Intrusion and Blanco Tranco as bands he believes should be far bigger.

"The Melbourne music community is also extremely supportive," he notes. "It's not unusual for people to share band members and be in three or more bands. Something I'm told doesn't happen so much in other cities."

Connect with Modern Ideas

Follow Modern Ideas and stay across new music and updates through the links below: