Modest Mouse Band • Page 32

Playing Fallon on Tuesday.

 

New song is out. “The Sun Hasn’t Left.” I think it’s my favorite of what’s released so far. Instrumentation is wild.

 

Yeah this song is great, especially the last half. I’m going to love this album.

 

I know that there's still a ton happening instrumentally, but this one comes across like it's a smaller band than the other songs released from this and most of Strangers To Ourselves. (This is a weird first impression and I know it probably isn't the case, but) it also kind of feels like Issac sang this song sitting down.

 

I'm really ready for the rest of this record.

 

Yeah this one is good

 

I've actually held off from listening to the second single and I will do the same for this one.

 

The music is practically oozing with joy on this one and it’s great

 

Wow, this one's actually my least favorite lol but I was also unsure about "Leave a Light On" and now I love it, gives me Talking Heads vibes. Hopefully my tune on this one will change by next week.

 

I like it

 

I think this is the best one so far. But still feel like these songs aren’t hitting squarely for me. It’s probably more of a “I’m past my new music from modest mouse excites me” phase. More of a nostalgia act for me now. People seem excited though. That’s cool.

 

I still think "We Are Between" fucking rules

 

I might like this track equally or even more than we are between, and we are between does indeed rule

 

so far its taken me quite a few listens of each song before i liked them, but they are definitely growing on me. i think this album is going to end up being a bit of a departure, maybe even a risk. however they are definitely at the point of needing to shake things up after the lukewarm reception of strangers to ourselves, so i think that this is going to be a polarizing but necessary step.

i have a hard time with the idea of not having guitars on most of the record, but these last two singles are pretty unique sounding, so i have hopes that the album will end up being awesome!

 

I'm digging this new tune. I've enjoyed all 3 but can't help to feel that if it wasn't MM i may have overlooked them. either way, Leave A Light On is my fave of the three and I'm excited for the record.

 

he mostly just spouts conspiracies lol

 

I am doing a discography run today (currently finishing The Fruit That Ate Itself).

I can confirm that I do still love all of these songs. What a band.

 

Just finished doing the same (for like the 3rd time haha)

Also can someone take this ticket to Wednesday’s August 11th Brooklyn Steel show. Bought only 1 then had some friends who wanted to go so we’re all going Saturday….willing to go below face value to avoid stuhub fees….

 

I don't know if this would be of interest to anyone, but I'm also really happy with it and don't know where else to post it. I wrote a little about The Moon & Antarctica, my favorite album of all-time:

"On the eve of a new Modest Mouse album, whom I would likely refer to as my favorite band, Facebook has decided to remind me that seven years ago today, I wrote a mini-review of The Moon & Antarctica, my favorite album, for a local zine. The grammar was poor and the writing was borderline nonsensical, so I'll spare you the re-post, but it does feel like a good time to revisit the things I said about it and what it means to me seven years later.

First of all, I like the artwork now. Below is the reissue artwork I became acquainted with when I first purchased the CD, but the original artwork is a dour purplish color with two disembodied hands shaking against a black and white sky. It's not the prettiest artwork in the world, but it's perfect for a conflicted, sometimes beautiful, and often surreal record about religion, isolation, and loneliness.

"The 3rd planet is sure that they're being watched/By an eye in the sky that can't be stopped/When you get to the promised land, you're gonna shake that eye's hand."

Despite being their best record, it still feels transitional to me in the same way that Death Cab For Cutie's Translatlanticism does, bridging the rough edges of their early albums with a newfound pop sensibility that shines on songs like "Gravity Rides Everything" and "Paper Thin Walls." That's not to say the album is always so warm and welcoming; at other turns, psychedelic freakouts ("Alone Down There") and haunting strings ("The Cold Part") score a cold, lonesome journey through space. But it's this kind of back and forth that has always inspired me to make music of my own. The album is incredibly cohesive but varied in sound; not quite a concept album (though it's easy to imagine), but much more than 15 tracks split up across two LPs. The Moon and Antarctica conveys a journey we can all relate to, stumbling through life freaked out and occasionally bursting with joy.

The last time I listened to The Moon & Antarctica, I was driving my first car to Thanksgiving with my mom's family in 2019. As "Gravity Rides Everything" played, I was T-boned by a speeding car, spinning me around and leaving me checking myself for holes or breaks. When I realized what had happened, the song was still playing, and call it superstitious, but I've been afraid to spin the record ever since. After a year and a half of living cautiously for the health and safety of others (which was and still is important and necessary), I'm gonna spin this record today, because life is short, and a record like this doesn't come around often. Even if The Golden Casket doesn't touch it, it's comforting to know my favorite band is still going through it with the rest of us - freaked out and occasionally bursting with joy.

"If life's not beautiful without the pain, well I'd just rather never ever even see beauty again."

 

thank you for sharing that

 

Thank you for reading!

 

I'll be at the Saturday show, too! I might have taken you up on the Wednesday ticket if I wasn't already seeing them in New Haven on Monday (and Cooperstown/Philadelphia before that haha).

 

@Aaron Mook please continue to check in with your listen so we know you're safe

 

Haha, I will and I appreciate that!