Modest Mouse: Worth the wait

After multiple push-backs of the album’s release, Modest Mouse finally delivers their fifth full-length album.

If you like Modest Mouse, you will most likely enjoy “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank,” released March 20.

I could easily stop there, but that wouldn’t do justice to what I consider a stellar delivery from this indie-turned-mainstream band.

Even with the addition of Johnny Marr of The Smiths fame and a few appearances from James Mercer of The Shins, Modest Mouse bandleader Isaac Brock has managed to maintain the classic Modest Mouse sound.

Brock even brings back some old ideas, like songs with multiple chapters. The band used this motif on their 1996 effort “This is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About” and 1997 album “The Lonesome Crowded West.”

The new album’s songs “Fly Trapped in a Jar” and “Parting of the Sensory” are the best examples of this, the latter actually turning into what I can describe only as a back-alley hootenanny.

Modest Mouse seems to be shying away from the spotlight of 2004’s “Good News For People Who Love Bad News.”

You’ll realize this as you listen to Brock’s vocals on many of the album’s tracks, such as “March into the Sea,” in which you can hardly understand what he is singing.

Is this a bad thing? Not at all, but it is definitely more noticeable than his earlier abrasive vocals.

Then there’s the song “Fire it Up,” which is by far one of the worst songs I’ve heard from Modest Mouse, or anyone for that matter.

The track is totally outside of the group’s style. The lyrics are even worse with the terribly made up word “Etceteranough,” which I guess is “et cetera” and “enough” hideously shoved together.

Overall, “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank” is an excellent addition to the Modest Mouse catalogue. In the future, I hope we will continue to see more work of this caliber from the group.