|
Modest Mouse brings
'Good News'
By Dave Frank
Collegian Reporter
In magazine, radio and e-zine interviews,
lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock has traditionally declined
the obligatory task of describing his band's "sound."
Let me, the pompous college critic, take a shot then: Modest
Mouse is something of an indie/math rock guitar band with influences
such as Pavement, Built to Spill and The Cure.
In 2000, the Issaquah, Wash., band signed
with Epic Records and released the acclaimed The Moon and Antarctica,
a long way from the modest (ha, ha) shed Brock built behind
his mother's house for the band to begin practicing in in 1994.
Good News For People Who Love Bad News, the
quartet's fourth LP, is their most pop sensible record to date
and possibly the best rock music release since Wilco's 2002
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. For those who may be a bit more familiar
with the band, it's like distilling the creativity of The Moon,
the scope of The Lonesome Crowded West and Brock's ear for melody
and irony-then garnishing the contents with Eric Judy's warm
bass lines and the freshness of new members Dann Gallucci and
Benjamin Weikel. Wait, I think I've gotten carried away here,
but what you have is something potent and sweet-something directed,
focused and layered like a movie script.
The irresistible single "Float On"
has already hit MTV (gasp) with a stylish video akin to Coldplay's
"Trouble," showcasing the band in handlebar mustaches
and someone stealing sheep off of a farm in the background.
Something like that, at least.
The particular single fits into a grouping
of melodic, seaboard songs like "The World at Large,"
"Ocean Breathes Salty" and "One Chance"
that read like letters for a departing sailor.
"The moths beat themselves to death against
the lights/Adding their breeze to the summer nights."
The second grouping perfects the band's signature
Southern stomp sound with additions of banjo, ukulele, fiddle
and a brass band.
"Bury Me with It," "Black Cadillacs"
and the fiery Dixie-tinged "Satin in a Coffin" walk
the line between the Pixies and necromancy, reminding you that
Modest Mouse has not forgotten how to rock. "Are you dead
or are you sleepin'? / God, I sure hope you are dead,"
he sings on the latter.
Other standouts include "Bukowski"-an
eastern European folk number on providence-and the Flaming Lips
remixed "The Good Times are Killing Me."
|
