Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 02/04/07
Label: Epic/Columbia

If ever it seems odd that a band cleaving to such an avowedly indie aesthetic as Modest Mouse could crash straight in at Number One with their fifth album, it's worth remembering Pavement. Without Malkmus and co, Isaac Brock's muse - and that of The Shins' James Mercer (who guests), while we're at it - would be decidedly less wayward. Without their "Cut Your Hair" (which bothered Billboard's Modern Rock chart in 1994) pointing the way, it's unlikely that literate, melodically convoluted collegiate rock like this would ever have got a commercial look in. Ultimately, of course, Pavement were judged too weird to be winners and were instead awarded cultish acclaim and a chapter in alt-rock history.

On this evidence, Modest Mouse's ambitions would seem to be less…well, modest. There has been much hubbub surrounding the fact that the latest (full-time) Mouseketeer is former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and, on paper, it does seem like an odd partnership - his trademark luminescent chiming with Brock's dry and anguished bark, Marr's mercurial melodicism with the band's slacker skronk. In fact, it's a menage made in heaven. Marr's mark is subtle but unmistakeable here, especially on "Little Motel", where a gentle tide of languid and shimmering guitar notes ebbs and flows with exquisite ringing sweetness, the perfect foil for Brock's uncharacteristically tender vocal.

His fingers also help define the "Shady Lane"-like "Missed The Boat", "People As Places As People" (which suggests Lloyd Cole fronting Pavement) and hurtling, post-punk closer "Invisible". Marr's hefty contribution aside (he co-wrote lead single, "Dashboard" within days of hooking up with Brock), there is much to admire here: Modest Mouse's typically complex, sonic patchwork, which reveals fresh detail with each unpicking; the jabbering, foam-flecked vocal that drives "Fly Trapped In A Jar"; the almost hallucinatory nature of "Parting Of The Sensory", which transposes the Pixies' ravaged, quasi-Mexican glory to the Appalachians, then adds furious fiddling and breathless, counter-melodic vocal lines; and - crucially - the ferocious intelligence that drives every single song.

The problem is, there's simply too much record here. At 14 tracks and 63 minutes long, "We Were Dead…" is an almost debilitating listening experience. It's rather like being presented with a six-course banquet of haute cuisine when the taster menu would have done - the Mr Creosote effect kicks in around track seven. Their last album featured 16 tracks and a quick scan of previous LP titles proves that Brock likes to keep his word count up, but if this Mouse didn't roar at quite such inordinate length, "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank" would make even more of an impact.

    by Sharon O'Connell