Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
I can see the indie-police descending on me for this one, but here goes anyway: in all honesty, as much as I loved Good News for People Who Love Bad News, I don’t think I really like Modest Mouse very much. After Good News I went and tried to explore their back catalogue a bit and really didn’t get very far. Neither The Moon & Antarctica nor The Lonesome Crowded West did much for me at all and I pretty much gave up.
This latest one is a bit of a return to earlier territory which, for me, means a boom-boom drum rhythm and far too much shouting. One of the joys of Good News was the variety of sound, from the devil’s carnival stomp of Bury Me With it to the wistful dream of Float On, with plenty in between. We Were Dead has far less of that, which makes it all a bit one-paced most of the time. Most of the songs have trademark shouty bits interspersed with trademark melodic bits, with the result that most of the variety in the album is actually within songs rather than between them. The Fiery Furnaces do this a lot as well, and I don’t really like it.
That said, the overall sound is largely decent, if you’re listening for it then Johnny Marr’s contribution on guitars is clearly in evidence, and there are a couple of excellent songs. Dashboard, for example, is so superior to the pre-release leak it acts as a bit of a lesson to those of us with an ill-advised habit of drawing too many conclusion from sketchy pre-release gossip. All in all though, Modest Mouse aren’t my favourite band and this isn’t really my favourite album.
Modest Mouse – Dashboard
Modest Mouse – Missed the Boat
Aw, give Lonesome Crowded West another listen or five. It’s really their most creative album, I think. I’m not a die-hard Modest Mouse fan or anything, and I actually couldn’t stand them until going back and hearing that one, but you’ve probably made some fans of theirs sad by giving up so soon.
Amen, Toad the Contrarian. Never have quite got the attraction to MM and this new one’s a particular snoozer. I’ve heard their live shows are OK but haven’t been able to summon the interest or the scratch to find out for myself.
Good grief, Mike, you could never sleep through this. There too much shouting! Doesn’t make it more enjoyable though.
Ah, I don’t know, I don’t hate it, but no more than a handful of songs do that much for me, I must be honest.
I’ll give it a go China, if you are sure. Mrs Toad won’t thank you for the tip though
i would urge you to relisten to the moon and antarctica, too. some of my favorite mm songs are on this one–3rd planet, gravity rides everything, tiny cities made of ashes. btw, have you ever heard sun kil moon’s covers of mm? his take on tiny cites blows me away.
i agree with you about we were dead, though. it’s a bit bombastic, as though brock thought in order to convey the emotion, he should go full throttle. i much prefer the subtler stuff, and i think marr might contribute to the over-wroughtness of it, too. but i’m not really an expert or anything.
Well the guitar on Smiths records is distinctive, but hardly overbearing.
I don’t know, I have tried with the MM back catalogue but, although I do promise to give it another try, it just didn’t click with me really.
Never knew much about the band till I heard ‘Float On’ a couple of years back. Liked the single sop much that I bought the album and was disappointed.
Bought the latest one on the strength of the Johnny Marr connection. I’ve listened to it a few times on this holiday and have grown to love it after initially been a bit bemused.
Not often that happens to me – I usually stick with my first impressions.
Anyway….stop reading this and get back to work. I’m away for a dip in the sea.
one last comment. what i meant about the johnny marr guitar was that on their older albums, for example good news, there is a lot more space in the instrumentation. the sound texture isn’t as dense. there’s depth, of course, but it’s not all jammed up together. does that make sense? listen to “bukowski” and see if you hear what i mean.
Ah right, I see what you mean. Yes, that makes perfect sense now you describe it that way.
And, JC, that’s the problem with music these days. There’s so much of it it can be really hard to take the time to listen to the stuff properly until it really sinks in.