1/7/2024 0 Comments Modest mouse im still here![]() Not even "Float On", their massive hit and a teeth-gritted ode to positivity, had this easy sense of goodwill to it.Īt times, the record feels labored, like you can hear every studio session that went into its creation. By the time the metal guitars have crashed into "Sugar Boats"-and the tubas enter in a moment later, doubling over them-the song has grown both overwhelming and boring. But the song is an unruffled and sweet pop-rock number that hits a feeling Modest Mouse never bothered with in their earliest days: It is sunny, optimistic, relaxed. "The Best Room" may or may not be inspired by a UFO sighting, as Isaac Brock coyly hinted in a recent interview. The delicately fingerpicked acoustic guitar figure in the beginning of "Coyotes" is also lovely, a bit of late-period Beatles. Opener "Strangers" is a patient and pretty ballad, featuring drowsy brush work by drummer Jeremiah Green, a prominent cello line, and Brock’s gentle, lilting midrange. The glimmering mallet percussion on "Ansel" is a nice touch, something we’ve never heard on a Modest Mouse record before. Here and there some new flourishes pop up. ![]() They've been a touring juggernaut for years now, and you can imagine many of these songs exploding live. It offers a sort of greatest-hits version of all the sounds Modest Mouse have become known for-"Here’s the hard-swinging backbeat! Here are a few of those eerie-sounding harmonic guitar bends, and here are some tight, clipped 'bah bah bahs!'" Still, there’s satisfaction to be had, hearing this band of pros finding and hitting their marks so emphatically. "Lampshades on Fire", the first single, is a good example. There are no new directions or tweaks to their approach. They might have spent eight years in the wilderness, but what they have delivered is…a Modest Mouse album, one that sounds like it could have been released five years ago. ![]() For better and for worse, the album betrays no signs of its troubled birth. ![]() Strangers to Ourselves finally sees the light of day this week, and to hear Brock tell it, we’re getting another album "as soon as legally possible." They are back, in other words, and vigorously making up for lost time. ![]()
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