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Album Review: Modest Mouse, "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" (Epic)
One sure thing: the new album from Modest Mouse is not meant to be background music, played softly while one eats a candlelit dinner or writes in a journal. These songs are best appreciated pounding in giant, noise-canceling earphones or neighbor-maddening loud on a stereo. And leave plenty of room for shaking and stomping.
Maybe it's a reaction to the pop success of their last album, "Good News for People Who Love Bad News"--the hit "Float On" was recently a group sing-a-long on "American Idol"--but these songs seem less accessible, harder to attach to. There's always been shouting in Modest Mouse, but frontman and songwriter Isaac Brock here seems particularly worked up, starting with devious laughter over a broken waltz on "March into the Sea," and breathlessly yelling across much of the rest of the album. Somehow, though, this pent-up release often works, helped by an unrelenting beat, a bass that tends to dip into disco and Clash-like rambles, and an undeniable, tension-filled energy.
The band also gets esteemed help on this album. In an inspired move, James Mercer of The Shins melds his sweet voice with Brock's unpolished warble on several songs, including "Missed the Boat," a lovely, jangly standout. And the legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, now an official band member, breaks into wonderful solos in nearly every song. It's just clear this is Brock's show, and though both Mercer and Marr enhance the music, they don't necessarily put their own marks on it.
As with other Modest Mouse albums, there isn't much happiness around: Brock screeches words like "bang your head like a gong cuz it's filled with all wrong!" while tunes wobble, fall to pieces and come together.
But not everything here is yelled or thumped or beaten over and over. Even the hardest-driving songs, like "Florida," have gentle interludes, and the quiet apology "Little Motel" is nothing but hopeful, repeatedly asking, "That's what we're waiting for, aren't we?" Plus, there's always enough artistry and style mixed in with the bravado to offer plenty of bright side to all this sinking and doom. "Oh the windshield was broken," Brock sings in "Dashboard," the forceful first single, "but I love the fresh air."
