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#1029: Modest Mouse – Perfect Disguise

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Unfortunately, this’ll be the last track from The Moon & Antarctica that I cover in this long-running series. There are many more that I could cover if I would, but they all precede the letter ‘P’. If you really wanted to know, they would be ‘Gravity Rides Everything’,‘A Different City’, ‘The Cold Part’, and ‘Alone Down There’. Some of you may argue that there should be at least a few clear contenders that should be coming up. But boo you, this is my list. ‘Perfect Disguise’ isn’t the worst note to leave on, anyway.

After the album’s three opening tracks raise the overall momentum to an all-time high – ‘Dark Center of the Universe’ is quite the intense number in particular – ‘Perfect Disguise’ comes in to slow things down and let the listener relax for just a few moments. Its introduction’s a slow build, starting with Isaac Brock’s lone guitar and followed by Eric Judy on bass and Jeremiah Green on drums. Judy’s bassline interweaves with the guitar, harmonising on instances while also maintaining its own melodic path. The three-piece’s performance here on its own is so relaxing, but is also added upon with a wailing guitar and banjo. Some twitchy synthesizers pan around the place during the verses. A great piece of music to just sink into a bed to.

Now, despite the alleviating music, the track’s lyrics concern a narrator’s realization that someone has been using them, or putting them down to in order to look better in comparison when in front of other people, and has chosen to not put up with their antics anymore. The narrator sarcastically wishes this other good luck in whatever these actions will lead them towards. And that’s really all there is to say. The harmonies throughout, which are singing ‘Broke my back’ but what I first thought were just some wordless vocals, repeat as the guitars fade out and alongside some glitch/spooky bleeps and bloops that transition into the next track. By itself, a bit of an erratic, sudden way to end things. When hearing it in the context of the album, though? Totally different experience. I reckon the track’s placement on there might give it a bit of an interlude-type track stigma, but to me it’s always been a highlight of mine for the relatuvely short time I’ve known it.

#1012: Modest Mouse – Paper Thin Walls

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As I’m typing this, it’s currently the 18th of January 2023 – which shows you just how much in advance I do these things – and just getting to almost three weeks after the passing of Modest Mouse drummer Jeremiah Green. That was some awful news to wake up to on New Year’s Day. It had only been made public that he had been diagnosed with stage IV cancer just a few days before, but I don’t think anyone could have expected things to go as they did, and so quickly too. It’s still sad in January, and now in March too – maybe in between the two months some update on Modest Mouse will happen. Will just have to wait and see.

It took me the longest time to listen to the band’s Moon & Antarctica in full and in good quality because, even though its Wikipedia page showed just how well-rated it was by critics, it wasn’t anywhere on streaming services for whatever reason. That was until December 2018 when it was suddenly on Spotify. Then I had to see what it was all about. It was an instant add to my personal library. Felt like an album I’d become so familiar with, even though it was my first time hearing the thing. ‘Paper Thin Walls’ is the 11th track on The Moon & Antarctica and was one of those on there that struck an immediate chord with me. Once that opening guitar lick kicked in, I think it was pretty much a guarantee, and what followed was an added bonus.

From what I’ve gathered in the four-and-a-bit years I’ve been listening to the song, ‘Paper Thin…’ is this musically upbeat track about a disturbing lack of privacy and a general sense of disappointment with things going on in the world, feelings and situations that usually come along with being in a band and having an expectation to please people wherever you go. Sounds like a let down in writing, but with the repetitive melody and call-and-response aspect between the vocals and the instruments during the verses, everything sounds a lot more lively and energetic than you would expect. I think that weariness shows more in the choruses, or is it a bridge – I’m not sure, in which things slow down a peg and Isaac Brock becomes a bit more introspective. But once that’s over, it’s a case of second verse, same as the first, and the energy props up again. Though it wasn’t until the band’s next album that something of mainstream success would come their way, I think ‘Paper Thin Walls’ could be considered an example of what was to come, just due to its sheer accessibility while still maintaining that unique Modest Mouse essence.

#983: Modest Mouse – One Chance

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December 2014, I had finished the first semester of my second year of university. In one of my modules, there was a coursework assignment in which you could either create a graphic novel or carry out a creative project that you then had to write a commentary about. I chose the latter, and for that project I decided to make a music video. That’s right. And it was the holiday period, it was a time to appreciate friends and family. I knew I’d be seeing them a lot in that time. It just so happened that Modest Mouse’s ‘One Chance’ contained a sentiment that I thought was appropriate for it. So that’s the song I chose. That music video is on my YouTube channel, under a private setting, and no one else will ever be able to see it except me. But I got the highest grade you could get for it and the commentary too, so it was well worth it.

‘One Chance’ is the penultimate track on Good News for People Who Love Bad News, the band’s album released in 2004, and is another case of frontman Isaac Brock’s ponderings on life as a whole and the existential dread that can come along with it. However, he doesn’t appear to be as abstract or sharply witty in his lyrics as he is usually known to be. Nope, in this track he bluntly states that all we have is this one lifetime to do what we have to do and get it done right. He mentions his deep appreciation for his friends and family, juxtaposing it with the sadness felt when some of his loved ones pass away prematurely. And then there’s that whole added pressure of feeling small and insignificant when you consider that we’re all living on this ball floating in space. It’s something that weighs on Brock’s mind. But musically it’s delivered in a tight three minute band performance, quite the change from the experimental and sometimes brash route that the band had established in the previous records.

There are times when Brock’s yowling and hollering down the microphone like it’s no one’s business, but for the majority ‘One Chance’ is very much accessible and pleasantly melodic, very much like every other song on the album. I’d like to highlight bassist Eric Judy’s bass parts during the verse, playing the same pattern while slowly making its way up the fretboard. Very fluid and memorable too. I have a feeling this track’s a little overlooked. Coming in that second to last spot on the album, it’s at a position where listeners are usually waiting to hear how the record closes. But there’s a hidden gem in ‘One Chance’; it’s probably one of my favourite songs by the group.

#963: Modest Mouse – Ocean Breathes Salty

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‘Float On’ was the much bigger single from Modest Mouse’s ‘breakthrough’ Good News for People Who Love Bad News album. And I don’t mind it. But the other single released from it, the one that stands before you this moment, is the one that I’ve been much closer to for a while now. I didn’t probably get into the band until about 2017 or something, but Good News… had been on my iTunes library since at least 2014. And even then, I don’t think I probably paid attention to ‘Ocean Breathes Salty’ until I decided to listen through the band’s albums in 2018. I wasn’t actively trying to avoid listening to their music, I swear. Some things just get in the way, such is life. Once I did get round to actively giving Good News… my full attention, ‘Ocean’ stood out as a clear highlight.

Just those opening seconds with Dann Gallucci’s arpeggiated guitar riff and Eric Judy’s ascending/descending bassline were enough to put my mind in a place of ease. You ever need a song to start off your train journey when you’re looking out the window and watching everything pass by you? ‘Ocean’ is the best way to start it off. And with Isaac Brock’s guitar line that mirrors the vocal melody during the verses coming not to soon after, it makes for one of Modest Mouse’s best song intros. Full of emotion, subtly impactful, and it doesn’t take too long for it to roll into the first verse. In that, it becomes clear that someone close to the song’s narrator has passed away. That narrator will keep their friend in their head, heart and soul. But this narrator isn’t one who’s into all this afterlife stuff. They don’t hold out a chance that they’ll see each other again once they’ve died too. It then soon becomes clear that this person’s quite annoyed with this departed friend because they didn’t make the most of the life they had, and if they didn’t make the use of time while alive, what use would living in the afterlife do? That is if there is a life beyond the grave.

I think it’s fair to say that’s the main point of the song. You’ve gotta make the most of the time you have. Brock takes it further by accusing this person of missing their death due to their lack of appreciation for life. Probably meant in a half-jokingly kind of way. At least that’s how I’ve taken it, but there’s still a poignancy to it. This track really is a package. You’ve got the somewhat heavy existential crisis point, but there’s still that sarcastic tone that stops it from becoming to melodramatic. Plus the musical dynamic of switching from the guitar setup during the verses to the Mellotron-led choruses gives an extra kick too. Longtime fans of Modest Mouse usually say that Good News… was where the band’s material marked a change for the worst. It was certainly different to what came before. Bigger production, a lot more slicker. But certainly the tracks on there took a huge benefit from this change. I believe ‘Ocean…’ is a prime example.

My iPod #243: Modest Mouse – Dashboard

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Sorry, the post is a bit late. Had some work to do, you know.

I had never listened through song fully by Modest Mouse before “Dashboard” appeared on the TV seven years ago. The last few seconds of “Float On” were the only thing I had witnessed when I changed the channel onto MTV2 one time, but unsurprisingly those seconds didn’t last long in memory.

The video for “Dashboard” was regularly advertised, being shown as the ‘brand new single’ from the band’s then forthcoming album “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank”. It was their first album in three years, and Johnny Marr, formerly of The Smiths, had recently joined the band’s lineup so interest was high. I say this like I know; I only assume, I was twelve at the time.

Dashboard is about taking the positive aspects from a less than satisfactory car journey. Or a car accident. Maybe more the latter. The dashboard melted, but hey look on the bright side…. they still had the radio. Even with the positive message, the song itself is not bright and happy melodically. There’s something about those strings after the first chorus that reminds me of being on the sea during a thunderstorm. Like a pirate sort of thing. But maybe that’s because of its music video.

The video is funny too. Apparently Seasick Steve is the barman who has the guitar fretboard for a leg at the end (you’ll need to see it to understand)…. but I swear it looks nothing like him.