Hah, not every album is going to be for everyone and that's okay, but I think it's a bit more cohesive than Strangers to Ourselves, it does a good job of trying some new things while bringing back arrangements and instruments that call back to Good News and We Were Dead, I think there's a handful of quintessential Isaac lyrics throughout, and it's poppy, but not overbearingly so. As someone said earlier, it sounds like a Modest Mouse album in 2021, equal parts comforting and exciting imo. I'm not head over heels with it, but I'm definitely pleasantly surprised after a couple of the singles had to grow on me.
Isaac is doing an AMA on r/indieheads today at 2 pm! https://www.reddit.com/r/indieheads...c_from_modest_mouse_here_ask_me_anything_ill/
It's weird because Strangers To Ourselves is the one that feels to me like it has all of the band's elements and pushes in a few new directions without losing the plot. I think the singles for this do the job of trying out new stuff while still sounding like a logical progression from previous work, but a lot of the other songs sound to me like they were written by someone else trying to write a "modern Modest Mouse record" and then they convinced Issac to record them. I'm glad that everyone seems to be enjoying it and really just want to be in on the party because this is my favorite band and I've never had any problem jumping on the train before haha.
Why they decided to pick the three shittiest songs as singles is beyond me. The rest of this is fine.
Came in with very low expectations so not sure if that is playing into my positive vibe with it, but it is quite good. Really love the vulnerable moments (second half of "Wooden Soldiers" and "Lace Your Shoes").
Overall, thought this was pretty good. But not too much jumped out at me, unfortunately. I did enjoy it, just not nearly as much as anything pre-Strangers. Didn’t really love Lace Your Shoes, felt very off-brand for them. Maybe the record is a grower. I’m interested in knowing how the weirder tracks translate live, very hyped to see them. I do hope they play some old stuff though lol.
Liked this even more on second listen, really happy with it. Doubt it's a top five MM release, but I like it more than Strangers (which I also enjoy).
I haven't had a real good chance to sit with this yet, just been listening a few times while I was in the car, I don't like listening to new music in my office because there are too many distractions but I really look forward to sitting down with this while slamming beers after the kids go to bed.
literally the only time I ever go on Reddit is when someone I like is doing an AMA…when did they start requiring an account?
even though this album has a different sound, i still hear plenty of Modest Mouse in there. i didn't like Transmitting Receiving that much at first, but it's already grown on me, i like that it's kind of a jam track that you can space out to, kind of reminds me of something off of This Is a Long Drive... Wooden Soldiers is so good. the emotional part towards the end of the song made me tear up a bit today.
some cool stuff in that AMA but someone asked him to expand on the whole gangstalking comment and his response was... even more worrying. I hope he's getting some help
I watched third eye spies after he mentioned it in that radio interview. Compelling but questionable.
Surprised at the score, but the review kind of reads like a backhanded compliment. "We Are Between" is. Single for sure but it's a stretch for me to imagine it in a beer commercial lol