Modest Mouse weather uneven new album

By Nate Adams
Collegian Staff
March 21, 2007

If any band has earned the right to indulge a little, it’s Modest Mouse. The Washington state natives, fronted by their cracked genius Isaac Brock, have done what few bands are able to do — they established their sound and built a cult following, and then were able to evolve their music without alienating their core. They were even embraced by the mainstream music world, winning a Grammy for their 2004 album Good News for People Who Love Bad News. On their new record We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, Modest Mouse are able to continue the development of their lo-fi angular indie rock, but not without missteps.

The album kicks off with the rollicking thunder of “March Into The Sea,” which not only establishes the aquatic mariner theme of the album, but also introduces the razor sharp production on the album (not to mention that it maintains Modest Mouse’s record for making badass opening tracks). “March Into The Sea” starts with a slow burn of what can only be described as “accordion nonsense,” before igniting into a pounding, teeth-shaker of a song.

This gives way to “Dashboard,” the album’s first single. New guitarist Johnny Marr, formerly the guitarist for the weepy, British-y group The Smiths, is a good fit for the band; his guitar work complements the odd, angular rock that is Modest Mouse’s calling card. However, even his presence in the band can’t help “Dashboard,” which is, at best, a mediocre disco dance rock track.

The bad news on this record is that a lot of it is admittedly filler. Songs like “Fire It Up,” “Missed the Boat,” “Fly Trapped in a Jar” and “People as Places as People” all have their moments and lyrical sparks as provided by the always interesting Brock, but in the end they are just missing the emotion and desire of Modest Mouse’s best tracks. This is a common problem for the band; throughout their career, albums have suffered from weak tracks peppered amongst exceptional ones, giving their records a lop-sided feel. Even the album’s extremely pointed production (the best on any album in the group’s catalogue) can’t save these songs.

The good news (for people who love good news) is that the tracks that do work, work exceptionally well. Brock’s signature lyrical style is all over the place on this record; even his most simple observations come off as poetic, weighted daggers (“The opinions that I do not give/are opinions I ain’t got”).

“Florida” is able to blend chaotic, thundering rock with a tender, almost longing chorus. “Little Motel” is one of the softest songs ever released by Modest Mouse, and it stands out in the noisy album like a calm in a storm, so much so that it is hard to believe the same band could make a song like the brutal “March Into The Sea.” “Spitting Venom” is an eight-and-a-half-minute sea shanty from hell, mixing Marr’s signature post-punk guitar work with Brock’s lyrical smarts. It’s a chore of a song, but considering it’s as long as three pop songs, there is more good than bad to it.

The crown jewel of the album is, without question, the dark mass of “Parting of the Sensory.” “Sensory” is classic Modest Mouse — it starts off slowly and calmly, just Brock, a guitar and some handclaps in the background. Gradually, piano, drums, bass and more guitar flow into the song, swelling and building into a panic frenzy breakdown at the end of the song. The tension and depression are so powerful on this song that it is almost palpable, so much so that it is draining. It’s absolutely worth it though; it’s a hell of a song.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Despite Modest Mouse’s growth from high school dropouts playing on pawn shop instruments into a mainstream success story, they still cannot seem to overcome their flaws. Regardless of the stellar production, the new band member and commercial achievement, We Were Dead is, at the end of the day, like every other MM album — it’s not a classic record, but it has classic songs on it.

adamsn1@lasalle.edu