Modern Love Is Automatic

Modern Love Is Automatic is a 1981 EP by the British new wave band A Flock of Seagulls, written by Mike Score, Ali Score, Frank Maudsley and Paul Reynolds. The song of the same name was also showcased on their self-titled album the following year. The song peaked at #19 on the US Dance Club Play chart as a double A-side with Telecommunication.[1]

Modern Love Is Automatic
EP by A Flock of Seagulls
Released	1981
Studio	Battery Studios, London
Genre	New wave, rock
Label	Jive
Producer	Mike Howlett
A Flock of Seagulls chronology
Telecommunication (1981) Modern Love Is Automatic (1981) I Ran (So Far Away) (1982)

Phil Spector expressed admiration for the song – as with many other tracks on the album – and at one point planned on producing the band's next album. However, this never happened due to a conflict with Jive Records and his increasingly reclusive lifestyle.[2]

Lyrics

The song details a love-affair between a mismatched pair. As with many of the groups lyrics, harmonies and videos, there is a suggestion of cosmic energy and other-world imagery.[3] The woman is an "automatic" perhaps symbolizing an android of some type. The man is a "cosmic" perhaps from another planet. The song closes with the man "locked away" but the narrator suggesting he is in fact free.

Track listing

7" Jive 8 (UK)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Modern Love Is Automatic"	4:00
2.	"D.N.A."	2:30
3.	"Windows"	3:28
4.	"You Can Run"	4:28

12" Jive T12 (UK)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Modern Love Is Automatic"
2.	"Telecommunication"
3.	"D.N.A."
4.	"Windows"
5.	"You Can Run"

_A^ _{Telecommunication produced by Bill Nelson}

12" Arista VK22001 (US)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Telecommunication"	2:33
2.	"Tanglimara"	4:37
3.	"You Can Run"	4:26
4.	"Modern Love Is Automatic"	3:44
5.	"D.N.A."	2:31

_B^ _{Tanglimara produced by Steve Lovell}

Charts

Chart	Peak position
US Dance Club Play[1]	19

Usage in other media

• The song's title was used in a 2009 independent movie.[4]

References

1. "A Flock of Seagulls Chart History". billboard. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
2. Wall of pain: the biography of Phil Spector David Thompson – 2003 – Sanctuary Pub Ltd
3. The music video guide. J Chu, E Cafritz - 1986 - McGraw-Hill Companies
4. "SXSW 09 Interview: Modern Love Is Automatic Director Zach Clark". eFilmCritic. 24 October 2006. Retrieved 12 June 2010.