MODEST MOUSE
AN ERASER AND A MUSE
REVIEW WRITTEN BY
JOE COMPTON
RELEASED: JUNE 5, 2026
15 TRACKS = 49 MINUTES
GENRE: INDIE/ALT ROCK
LABEL: GLACIAL PACE RECORDS
Full disclosure, I am a giant Modest Mouse fan. Both "We're Dead..." and "Good News For People..." are easily in my Top 100 albums of all time. In fact, "Good News For People Who Love Bad News" sits at #23 on my list.
So you can imagine my excitement to hear that the guys remaining are keeping on after the very tragic death of Founding Member and Drummer Jeremiah Green. Though I understand where the guys are, who they became as a result of dealing with this, and what that meant for the sound and evolution of the band, never being the same again, I still maintain that I have to be honest and talk about this, the 8th Studio Album, as I heard it.
Modest Mouse has always been one of those lab experiment bands that have fused different genres, different pitch approaches, and different time signatures to incredibly lofty success and music to this fan and listener's ears. With this album, though, there are a lot more experiments that I am not sure were meant to escape the lab. Let's get into the tracks, and you might see what I mean.
PICKING DRAGONS' POCKETS - Modest Mouse have always been bold and gut-punching in their opening album salvos, and this song is no exception. Right from the moment it cascades into the Bass string bends and dissolves into the tidy riff that accompanies its lyrical output, we hear the familiar dullset tones of Isaac Brock. Who raps his lyrics in a beat box rhythm and gives us the ethereal experience of standing around a stage, ingesting the atmosphere, as if we saw it straight from his eyes. This is the magical connection Modest Mouse has, and it is so familiar that you almost lose your shit thinking this album might be an all-timer.
So you can imagine my excitement to hear that the guys remaining are keeping on after the very tragic death of Founding Member and Drummer Jeremiah Green. Though I understand where the guys are, who they became as a result of dealing with this, and what that meant for the sound and evolution of the band, never being the same again, I still maintain that I have to be honest and talk about this, the 8th Studio Album, as I heard it.
Modest Mouse has always been one of those lab experiment bands that have fused different genres, different pitch approaches, and different time signatures to incredibly lofty success and music to this fan and listener's ears. With this album, though, there are a lot more experiments that I am not sure were meant to escape the lab. Let's get into the tracks, and you might see what I mean.
PICKING DRAGONS' POCKETS - Modest Mouse have always been bold and gut-punching in their opening album salvos, and this song is no exception. Right from the moment it cascades into the Bass string bends and dissolves into the tidy riff that accompanies its lyrical output, we hear the familiar dullset tones of Isaac Brock. Who raps his lyrics in a beat box rhythm and gives us the ethereal experience of standing around a stage, ingesting the atmosphere, as if we saw it straight from his eyes. This is the magical connection Modest Mouse has, and it is so familiar that you almost lose your shit thinking this album might be an all-timer.
With REMEMBER YOURSELF - The tempo change dusts off the Americana Indie Rock that made Modest Mouse an Indie Darling in those early albums, something that has been rarely heard since their commercial success. Also, love right away that we get the engagement and some variations of the capabilities of Damon Cox, Jeremiah's replacement, and it is very clear that not only does he fit in, but he brings a little spark to the band that has them humming their yesteryears more than their present. Now, this will not always work here, but for this track, it works to perfection. The lyrics here are the boundaries of Isaac's ever-wondering mortality. The fact it feels like a gunfight standoff just adds so much more power to what he is singing.
THIRD SIDE OF THE MOON - Is a welcome ballad that really pays homage to Jeremiah in such a beautiful and loving manner. I love when Modest Mouse strums a beat, as if they were playing with sand. It feels warm, inviting, and true to their nature. This is the song that you will need tissues for. The chorus does drift into a la la fest but it feels right.
Then comes the oddest aspect of this album, these random out of place interludes. The first of which is actually entitled INTERLUDE, musician-wise, it's fine and somewhat beautiful, but what you gather is this is going to spread and gently if not almost right over your head, into the next song.
Which it does in I CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW, but the rub here is that the faintness of the next song doesn't exactly sound like we are going into the next song. This is a prog rock tribute to the dusty veils of a Rush opus or an 80s' a little too out there track. I am not a fan of the distortion in Isaac's voice here either. It makes this song feel like a badly produced track rather than an experimental anomaly. This is a rough stretch for me and this is one I probably will never listen to again.
Which it does in I CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW, but the rub here is that the faintness of the next song doesn't exactly sound like we are going into the next song. This is a prog rock tribute to the dusty veils of a Rush opus or an 80s' a little too out there track. I am not a fan of the distortion in Isaac's voice here either. It makes this song feel like a badly produced track rather than an experimental anomaly. This is a rough stretch for me and this is one I probably will never listen to again.
SPEAK 'N SPELL (OR NOT) has the inviting guitar strum of Isaac and his counterpart, Simon O'Conner. I love how it wakes us from a slumbering trance. This is the experimental genre blending that works for them because it sounds more like Modest Mouse than it doesn't. Even though it's not close to the howlers in the early parts of the album, and moreover, a tad more commercial. I love that the riff serves as the chorus with a neat little note twist. It's that kind of cleverness that makes this band so polarizing.
At this point, because this seems to be where it's placed within the album structure, this feels like the many stages of grieving type of concept. "Speak 'N Spell" begins a new way to be familiar. Not moving on from Jeremiah but moving into Damon's time.
At this point, because this seems to be where it's placed within the album structure, this feels like the many stages of grieving type of concept. "Speak 'N Spell" begins a new way to be familiar. Not moving on from Jeremiah but moving into Damon's time.
ROTTEN FRUIT brings even more familiar experiments as we get this unique whistling, almost awe-shucks vibe that proclaims maybe the most prolific theme that spurts throughout Isaac's lyrical exploration, that while I am grieving, I still have zero fucks to give about the bullshit. I love when the strong guitar riff ripples in and rips a hole in the song. Such a great cadence there for Isaac to sing with it and around it. That is a clever device that hooked me so fast.
Something the next song, KNOCKED DOWN BY WAVES, fails to do is that this weird ballad again incorporates a distorted echo chamber for Isaac's voice, and it doesn't add any oomph to it. This song never gets out of neutral, and it supposedly by length, would register as an interlude, but really, it is a weird elevator music pop itch. It also has this weird 3 seconds of silence at the end that is the assumption of blending into the next song.
Which brings us back to The Cure experiment, as we get ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY NEVER. Again, another track very synthesized, but the cool and unique thing is that while you can totally feel the Duran Duran or Cure vibes, it oddly still sounds like a Modest Mouse riff and song. While the chorus is the title over and over again, it is surprisingly fierce and catchy like their old 80s predecessors. There's even a cool "Lets Go to Bed" like bridge in the middle. Nice work from Keith Karman here on the keyboards.
Then we get into the weird sing-along portion of our acid trip, with first a SONG ABOUT NOTHING, which will remind a lot of fans of "Float On" same basic structure. It's nice that Mr. Brock wants to make sure you know the name of the song, but again, more distortion that, lengthwise, feels like an interlude. Which is beyond weird when you concede that the next song...
STONER PARTY is for sure an interlude. This campfire ditty is very out of place here but its so Modest Mouse too. I love the different types of percussion we get here and the way Damon and Isaac use them all. While I will be skipping ahead if I ever just listen straight through the album, I can appreciate the kookiness of this.
STONER PARTY is for sure an interlude. This campfire ditty is very out of place here but its so Modest Mouse too. I love the different types of percussion we get here and the way Damon and Isaac use them all. While I will be skipping ahead if I ever just listen straight through the album, I can appreciate the kookiness of this.
LOOK HOW FAR...is an instant classic I had been yearning for with this album. This is the song for me. It is Modest Mouse, grungy, powerful, and spirited. I love the way Isaac spitfires here and just melds with the tempo. It's what makes Modest such a unique entity, and they have done a song like this so often, and yet every time you hear a new one, it feels just that, new and fresh. The chorus is righteous and poignant. The guitar riff is undeniable and unforgettable. My favorite song on the album and the one I will listen to more than any other for a long, long time.
IMPOSSIBLE SOMEDAYS keeps the party going and gives us that punk feel we didn't have much of in this album. Here again are the strong guitars with incredible tempo that Isaac blends his rapping and singing with long note pulls. This is technically one of the best-produced songs on the album. It has just the right amount of perfection with the right amount of peach fuzz on it. This is the uptempo tribute to Jeremiah and such a great goodbye. It feels like a Jeremiah song, and it is all about how brave facing the inevitable is. So beautiful.
It's hard to say if this is a sign of things to come or if this was the tribute album that just needed to be done and moved on from. Jeremiah was such a big part of the developed sound that you never thought Modest would stray from, and while some of the straying worked and provoked nostalgia, some of it didn't. I, for one, am willing to give that a pass if this is just what they had to do to get all this out. If this becomes the direction, I don't know. I guess I'd have to hear it, but after this experience, I have a feeling you can take the Mouse out of the Modest but not the Modest out of the Mouse.
YOU CAN CHECK OUT FOR YOURSELF HERE
It's hard to say if this is a sign of things to come or if this was the tribute album that just needed to be done and moved on from. Jeremiah was such a big part of the developed sound that you never thought Modest would stray from, and while some of the straying worked and provoked nostalgia, some of it didn't. I, for one, am willing to give that a pass if this is just what they had to do to get all this out. If this becomes the direction, I don't know. I guess I'd have to hear it, but after this experience, I have a feeling you can take the Mouse out of the Modest but not the Modest out of the Mouse.
YOU CAN CHECK OUT FOR YOURSELF HERE
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