Modest Mouse ‘We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank’ Genre: Alternative, rock Sounds Like: Ugly Casanova, the Pixies Rating: 90 Decibels

Modest Mouse is back to the absurd, and that’s just how their diehards like it.

The group’s fifth release, ‘We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank,’ brings back the grittiness and soul missing from 2003’s ‘Good News for People Who Love Bad News,’ an album adored by critics, but essentially hated by true fans.

Carried by hit singles ‘Float On’ and ‘Ocean Breathes Salty,’ ‘Good News’ brought Modest Mouse into the mainstream, the dreaded norm. Then again, this shouldn’t be read like ‘Good News’ was a complete disaster.

‘Bukowski,’ presumably about contradictions in Christianity, and ‘One Chance,’ about life’s limited opportunities to get everything right, are philosophical standouts on an album that overdosed on pop and avoided the expressive lyrics and rough guitar riffs of albums past.

Translation: ‘Good News’ is pleasant to listen to, but didn’t amount to anything more than ear candy.

However, those familiar with the new album’s catchy first single, ‘Dashboard,’ may wonder why ‘We Were Dead’ is an improvement. Well, ‘Dashboard’ thankfully arrived four years too late. With its attractive sound and nonsensical lyrics, it would have fit into the ‘Good News’ lineup perfectly.

On ‘We Were Dead,’ ‘Dashboard’ sounds completely out of place, attaching itself to the album to reach consumers more concerned with a song’s potential as a ring tone than one with any meaning.

Setting aside ‘Dashboard,’ the rest of the album is, for the most part, poetic brilliance, a mash up of songs rejecting the bubbly precedent set by ‘Good News’ and instead, delving into darker themes.

The album’s standout track, and frankly one of the group’s best, is the beautifully depressing ‘Missed the Boat.’ The song is about exactly that – blowing an opportunity and not having the chance to fix it.

In typical Modest Mouse fashion, lead singer/songwriter Isaac Brock keeps its ultimate message ambiguous: Missing ‘the boat’ could simply refer to a failed career change or perhaps life’s most significant opportunity: heaven, if it exists.

A close second is ‘Parting of the Sensory.’ ‘Sensory,’ which deals with elements of dead organisms giving rise to other organisms, is vintage Modest Mouse.

It slowly begins with Brock, some light guitar and a sluggish drumbeat. Then nearing the end, ‘Sensory’ goes nuts, complete with drums, guitar noodling, a violin and, oh yes – hand claps and shouting, all while Brock endlessly repeats ‘Someday you will die, and somehow something’s gonna steal your carbon.’ It simply becomes an out-of-control mess.

Oh, and it’s a pleasant surprise to finally hear an eight-minute Modest Mouse song again with ‘Spitting Venom.’ Since ‘Good News’ only produced one track exceeding a meager five minutes, you have to go back seven years to 2000’s ‘The Moon and Antarctica’ to find a song that eclipses its runtime.

‘Venom’ is clearly about a breakup, but is built with lyrics walking the line between elementary and disappointing. Even so, Brock backs away from the mic at its middle to make way for a 45-second trumpet solo, with steady guitar rumbling behind it.

Revolutionary? Not quite. But it’s elements like this they were reluctant to include in their past few albums. ‘Venom,’ in its glorious entirety, is a reassuring nod from the Washington-state boys that they climbed out of the creative hole that ‘Good News’ buried them in.

Also of note are new band mates in the making of the album. Johnny Marr, guitarist of the Smiths fame, is now a full-fledged member; Jeremiah Green, the band’s original drummer, is back after missing ‘Good News,’ and James Mercer, singer/songwriter from The Shins, sings backup vocals on three ‘We Were Dead’ tracks.

Modest Mouse’s all-time best is still 1997’s ‘The Lonesome Crowded West,’ an album that indulged on a steady diet of intelligent lyrics and constant rock. Even so, ‘We Were Dead’ makes a convincing case to be the band’s second best, and ultimately steers them away from that dreaded pop sound and back to something more familiar.

SIDEBAR

Modest Mouse Albums

– This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About (1996)

– The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)

– The Moon and Antarctica (2000)

– Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004)

EPs, rarities and live albums

– Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect? (1995)

– Interstate 8 (1996)

– The Fruit That Ate Itself (1997)

– Building Nothing Out of Something (2000)

– Night of the Sun (2000)

– Sad Sappy Sucker (2001)

– Everywhere & His Nasty Parlour Tricks (2001)

– Baron von Bullshit Rides Again (2004)

Meet Modest Mouse

– Isaac Brock

Lead vocals, songwriter, guitarist

Years with band: 1993-present

Past/present affiliations: Ugly Casanova

– Jeremiah Green

Drums, percussion

Years with band: 1993-2003, 2004-present

Past/present affiliations: Vells, Psychic Emperor

– Eric Judy

Bass, keyboards, vocals, percussion

Years with band: 1996-present

– Johnny Marr

Guitarist, songwriter

Years with band: 2006-present

Past/present affiliations: the Smiths, Electronic, the Healers

– Tom Peloso

Vocals, violin, bass

Years with band: 2004-present

Past/present affiliations: the Hackensaw Boys

– Joe Plummer

Percussion

Years with band: 2004-present

Published on March 19, 2007 at 12:00 pm