Today (Tuesday 3/20) sees the release of the 5th proper studio album from Modest Mouse, lovingly entitled We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. It features 14 brand new songs from head mouse Isaac Brock, as well as the highly publicized addition of Johnny Marr on guitar. We Were Dead… marks an even further departure from the hard, angular indie-rock Modest Mouse was once synonymous with to the more melodic indie-pop that got a test run on 2004’s Good News For People Who Love Bad News.
Ironically enough, it’s on the more pop-oriented tracks that We Were Dead… is most successful. “Dashboard” is one of the most obvious, and has been working its way around the internet for a few months now. It appears to be this album’s “Float On”, the transcendent lead single from Good News…. It sports a chorus that trips over its own bliss, and both horns and strings that help fill out the sound without getting in each other’s way. Like “Float On”, it is undeniably infectious, even if it never quite reaches the heights of its predecessor.
“Little Motel” is a true form power ballad, and may now be the most beautiful song in the Modest Mouse catalog. It begins so gently that you’d think you could bully the sound waves by blowing them back into the speakers, but gradually gets louder with the introduction of some tasteful power chords. The arrangement is spacious enough to allow the guitar solo to hover over the rest of the song, circling it before landing back in the mix.
It is on the tracks that try to keep in touch with the old sound that find Modest Mouse sounding tired and out of fresh ideas. “Steam Engenius” and “Spitting Venom” may have been more effective as b-sides, allowing the album to run a lot shorter and have a more seamless sound. While long time fans may be disappointed by the commercial sounding songs Brock is writing these days, to an unprejudiced ear they are more interesting melodically and musically, and display Brock has shifted his focus quite successfully. So much so that We Were Dead…suggests he may want to think about permanently severing all past ties.
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MP3 :: Little Motel
(from We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank)
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Watch the video for “Dashborad” :
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