Tag Archives: the moon & antarctica

#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.