SectionsGroup at the top of their game
Kevin Ehlers
Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Features
- < prev Page 2 of 2
I originally titled this review "Good News for People Who Enjoyed 'Good News for People Who Enjoy Bad News,'" but figured that was excessive and confusing. In all honesty, that title really sums up what "We Were Dead" accomplishes. It should keep fans of their previous album happy, but it also finds the band expanding greatly on that sound with more complex arrangements, the addition of Johnny Marr and the usual smorgasbord of genres found throughout.
Marr is almost immediately found to be a perfect fit on songs such as "Fire It Up" and "Little Motel." The best addition to this album, though, is James Mercer of The Shins on backup vocals. His voice is so complimentary to Brock's that you wonder why their longtime friendship didn't bring this about on earlier albums. Mercer's melodic wails add immeasurably to the three songs he is on. I can't imagine the chorus of "Missed the Boat," which is an unusually accessible jaunt for Modest Mouse, without Mercer singing, "And we carried it all so well/as if we got a new position/oh, and I'll laugh all the way to hell/saying yes this is a fine promotion" along with Brock.
By the time you reach the end of "We Were Dead," you'll be smiling and exhausted, but you will eventually want another listen to catch all the little stuff you know you had missed. At nearly an hour long, you may need to take a break, but the length ultimately proves to be the album's only weakness. It's a shame the album stretches itself too much because the songs at the end, such as the nine-minute "Spitting Venom" and the album closer "Invisible," are some of the album's best.
Ignore the length and you're left with Modest Mouse's best album in years. It's an album that runs with the success of "Good News" and builds and expands on those songs in the best possible ways. There're horns, strings, Johnny Marr's guitar, James Mercer on backup vocals and the usual ravings of Isaac Brock in full on "We Were Dead." And besides possibly a translator for some of Brock's most energetic singing, I can't imagine needing anything more. "We Were Dead" is the perfect follow-up to Modest Mouse's unexpected commercial success and is just as strange and unaccessibly accessible as you'd expect from Modest Mouse.
Marr is almost immediately found to be a perfect fit on songs such as "Fire It Up" and "Little Motel." The best addition to this album, though, is James Mercer of The Shins on backup vocals. His voice is so complimentary to Brock's that you wonder why their longtime friendship didn't bring this about on earlier albums. Mercer's melodic wails add immeasurably to the three songs he is on. I can't imagine the chorus of "Missed the Boat," which is an unusually accessible jaunt for Modest Mouse, without Mercer singing, "And we carried it all so well/as if we got a new position/oh, and I'll laugh all the way to hell/saying yes this is a fine promotion" along with Brock.
By the time you reach the end of "We Were Dead," you'll be smiling and exhausted, but you will eventually want another listen to catch all the little stuff you know you had missed. At nearly an hour long, you may need to take a break, but the length ultimately proves to be the album's only weakness. It's a shame the album stretches itself too much because the songs at the end, such as the nine-minute "Spitting Venom" and the album closer "Invisible," are some of the album's best.
Ignore the length and you're left with Modest Mouse's best album in years. It's an album that runs with the success of "Good News" and builds and expands on those songs in the best possible ways. There're horns, strings, Johnny Marr's guitar, James Mercer on backup vocals and the usual ravings of Isaac Brock in full on "We Were Dead." And besides possibly a translator for some of Brock's most energetic singing, I can't imagine needing anything more. "We Were Dead" is the perfect follow-up to Modest Mouse's unexpected commercial success and is just as strange and unaccessibly accessible as you'd expect from Modest Mouse.
Be the first to comment on this story