The Charlatans launch entire discography of singles as an app with Manchester tech experts Modern English

Long-established Manchester indie band The Charlatans have launched a phone home screen inspired mobile website that is packed with exclusive Charlatans material redesigned to look like apps.

The latest unique project, produced by Manchester based creative technology firm Modern English, looks and feels like your phone home screen.

The band, with the help of creative Nick Fraser, inspired a set of ‘app’ screens for each of their singles. Modern English, who had streamed Foo Fighters Glastonbury announcement to 7 million people, brought the icons to life just like real mobile apps.

Bruce Thomas, founder of Modern English, speaking to The Northern Quota, said: “If you are a genuine fan of The Charlatans, it is a very simple, yet creative way of knowing as much as you want to know about each one of their singles.

“You can listen to the single through Spotify, watch the video and see some behind the scenes stuff you’ve never seen before.”

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The mobile website works in chronological order of the band’s singles with each ‘app’ representing a single from the band. Users can click on each app to open up an individual archive for each single.

Bruce added: “It’s designed to come from the heart. We wanted it to be a bit more engaging than your average, superficial discography.

“When we first decided to do this we said we’ll put in the artwork for the single, the release date and maybe a few photographs. It quickly turned in to lots of interactivity, handwritten lyrics, galleries and videos.”

The Charlatans have had a fascination in reworking their entire back catalogue for the past five years with Tim Burgess and the band crafting their huge collection of songs as a Tube Map, transforming song titles in to classic book covers and turning albums into the Periodic Table.

The app follows the release of their latest single ‘Over Again’ – taken from their thirteenth studio album ‘Different Days’ in September.

Bruce added: “We will continue to add little bits and we have told the band that when the next single comes out, we’ll add that too. We hope to keep it running as a living interactive archive of the singles.”

Speaking to BBC Radio 6, Tim Burgess said: “We wanted to show people the history of the band in a modern way.”

Bruce said: “These are not our ideas, these are The Charlatans ideas and we have been able to bring them to life. A lot of things they do are so outside of the box; they are so clever. That’s why I wanted to work with them.

“We have been doing all these things for artists all around the world, but we hadn’t done anything for a band local to us. We love The Charlatans and the whole vibe that they bring, we wanted to work with a band that we love.  Tim is a top guy and he has been very involved with the project.

“You’d expect to see this from a top international artist like Taylor Swift, not The Charlatans, and that’s a real compliment to them.”

You can download the app from apps.thecharlatans.net.