We Are Between
Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Modest Mouse have struggled to shake the enormous success of 2004 hit 'Float On', here on their seventh long-player, they've struck gold again.
Oddly, for an album recorded and released in the midst of a global pandemic, the six-piece are remarkably upbeat, treading close to the tempo and style of their breakthrough album 'Good News For People Who Like Bad News'.
The absolutely massive lead track 'We Are Between' bounces between indie, pop, psych, stadium rock, and post-punk with nary a pause for breath as the 2021 Modest Mouse revisit some of the highs of their admittedly massive back catalogue.
Modest Mouse have always straddled the space between dismay and hope while maintaining a playful sense of song-writing. Tracks writhe and wriggle as vocals chop in and out, and on this collection of 12-tracks, the band take in electronic influences alongside their affinity with the guitar.
Isaac Brock channels an unerring sense of positivity and purpose, throughout, in fact, during an interview with leading UK Music site, NME ahead of the release of Golden Casket, the 45-year-old puts this down to his trademark pessimism: “I don’t think shit’s gonna get easier for everyone… [But] I just had to kinda look at that and find a way to make it sound OK,” he said.
The Sun Hasn't Left
Fans of the band's off-kilter melodies and jangly licks will find touches of The Cure and The Smiths here. Album opener 'Fuck Your Acid Trip' is a joy. “Fuck your acid trip, I need to get home," Brock says on the leaving behind the party days and the dependance and the hangovers and the depression.
“Lace Your Shoes,” further brings home the message of a band, and frontman, finally content; “I can’t wait to see which paths you choose,” Brock barks over whirling synths and stark percussion.
'Leave A Light On' sounds like it could be a cover version of an Arcade Fire track by Brighton alt-poppers Fujiya & Miyagi remixed by Hot Chip. If that sounds a little forced and convoluted, by means of description, listen to the song again with those references in mind.
If there were a prize for song titles, surely the gong would go to “Never Fuck A Spider On The Fly” and even more praise for its excellent lyric; “I don’t care for politics and it doesn’t care for me!/I don’t like being watched by the TV,” Brock spits, perfectly summing up this most paradoxical of frontmen and his paranoias regarding technology.
The Golden Casket is a terrific record from a wonderful band, there's one foot in the past and more than a few toes in the future.
"It takes a lifetime to ever figure out/That there ain’t no lifetime that is ever figured out - Modest Mouse: We're Lucky”
© Epic Records
Golden Casket is out now on Epic Records.
