Review-”We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank” - Modest Mouse
I once made a statement that Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie was one of the greatest writers of our time. A friend of mine quickly shot back, “Pft, Isaac Brock can say in two words what takes Ben Gibbard a whole song”. In this statement he was not bashing Gibbard, an artist my friend also had great admiration for, but was simply stating that none of Brock’s contemporaries formed such clear thesis as “People are made of water and shit” or “We’re put here just to make more dirt”.
Prior to last week I would consider Ugly Casanova’s “Sharpen Your Teeth” to be Brock’s last great work. The 2004 Modest Mouse release “Good News For People Who Love Bad News” just didn’t do much for me. Save for his circular ramblings about language on “Blame it on the Tetons”, I found it lacking the core Modest Mouse essence that has separated the band from a Franz Ferdinand or a Wolf Parade. While the songs were still instantly recognizable as Modest Mouse, they lacked the darkness and simple complexity of their precursors.
Some would be quick to blame this fall from grace on the majors. However, this just doesn’t seem to hold water; I dare you to deny the greatness of “The Moon & Antarctica”, the band’s major label debut. Others would point to Brock’s personal problems; a stint in short stint in jail for a DUI and an attempted murder charge. While this sort of trouble would be enough to knock anyone of their game, “The Moon & Antarctica” was releases on the heals of rape accusations which eventually forced Brock to move from Seattle, WA to Gainesville, FL to escape a scene that had turned against him. To make matters worse, drummer Jeremiah Green, whose mesmerizing drumming defined some of the bands earlier work, had a break down during second day of recording and quit the band. Add to the mix new producer Dennis Herring, who the band had never before worked with, and it is a wonder this album was ever completed at all. For all its low points, the album “Good News…” stuck to very tight concept and found the band progressing from releasing a collection of loosely connected songs to creating a statement as an album. Not to mention it went platinum and has outsold all the previous Modest Mouse releases combined.
After suffering through a less than stellar and more than expensive live show from their second tour for “Good News…” I was ready to say good-bye. I wanted to hold on to the old Modest Mouse. I had no interest in anything that grew out of the same pot that “Good News…” was planted in. Upon the reading of the return of their drummer Jeremiah Green and the addition of Johnny Marr (of the fucking Smiths, WTF), I had shard of hope that Modest Mouse might be able return to greatness. When the new album was leaked to the P2P networks I couldn’t resist; I had to have a listen (I have since purchased both the Deluxe CD and LP editions of this incredible album).
While those hoping for a return to the “Dial-a-Song” days could possibly still be disappointed by “We Were Dead Before the Ship Began to Sink”, this album is far from the worst and very close to the best Isaac has ever penned. Songs like “Parting of the Sensory” not only close the curtains on the brightness of “Good News…” but they also mark the return of phrases like “Some day you will die and somehow something’s going to steal your carbon”. This album takes lessons learned in album crafting from “Good News…” and applies them to Brock’s core competencies: musings of the universe, morality, and infinity. However, people expecting a second “Good News…” are not denied either. “Dashboard” has been aptly labeled “Float On 2″ for better or worse. Anyone who can’t make it through to “Florida” will probably declare that nothing has changed from “Good News…”.
For me, Brock’s best work to date is studies in the canon “Cat Faces” from his Ugly Casanova release “Sharpen Your Teeth”. To a lessor extent this album revisits this application of layered vocals. The call and response and panned vocals add a width to the Modest Mouse sound that can’t really be found anywhere else in rock today. However, I think the main strength of this album is how it draws on every previous version of Modest Mouse: there is the intensity of “Tundra/Desert” in “Parting of the Sensory”, there is rarely shown sweet side of “Sleepwalking” and Trailer Trash” in “Little Motel”. “Parting of the Sensory” seems to share the sonic landscape that made “The Moon & Antarctica” one of the most important albums of this decade, and “Fire it Up” and “Dashboard” take a page from the radio friendly songs found on “Good News…”.
Whatever you’re looking for in Modest Mouse, chances are you will find it on this album (save for some of the very early antics). If you want to hate their commercial success and totally bash them for selling out; you will certainly find plenty of fuel to do that in the first ten minutes of this album. If your looking for return to their “glory days” it is here too, it just takes a little more effort. If your looking for a defining statement of what Modest Mouse is or a good introduction to the band, this is album is probably your best bet.
- Posted by Davy Minor on March 29, 2007 at 3:38 pm
