I read an interview in which Isaac said that he had written a lot of material, enough to release two albums, one of them being Strangers To Ourselves. He said he wanted to release the other songs too, in a year or so. Maybe I made a mistake by presuming that the songs that are on STO are the best out of those sessions. But I think it makes sense that if you are going to release a long-awaited album after an eight year gap since your last, you would choose to disclose the best songs you have written first. That's why I called the other songs "leftovers". But anyway, I hope they prove me wrong.
this is different every time i do it, but today it's probably: Lonesome Crowded West Building Nothing Out Of Something Strangers To Ourselves No One's First, And You're Next We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank The Fruit That Ate Itself Good News For People Who Love Bad News The Moon & Antarctica This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks Sad Sappy Sucker
i think that you try to pick the best songs, but also you pick songs that make a cohesive album. when you do that, you end up leaving out some songs that might be really great but don't quite fit in. i know that i personally like a lot of bands' b-sides more than the songs on the albums they could've been on. they're left over, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're worse.
Alright, so after being forever changed by TM&A and LCW, should I move forward to Good News or back to This is a Long Drive?
Melodically, I liked LCW much more, but I preferred the way Moon & Antarctica sounded production-wise. Lol. Worst answer.
i'd probably recommend good news, then. it's got a similarly clean sound. you could also check out building nothing out of something. that's somewhere between lonesome crowded west and moon & antarctica in terms of overall sound.
Yeah, I figured that would fit better for me. Out of curiosity, what similarities can be drawn between lonesome and the debut?
other than being closest chronologically, they both have a lot of space, a tendency toward jammier sections, and a more brute-force approach to songwriting. they're both albums from when the band had fewer members, and that comes through in the compositions. they both contrast a bit from everything from the moon & antarctica or good news for people who love good news on in that they aren't quite as clean and have less of an emphasis on tighter song structures and more traditionally catchy melodies. in my opinion, lonesome crowded west is like a more fleshed-out take on what the band was doing on long drive, with stronger thematic ties and better overall production. if you like one, you should probably like the other (i love all of their albums haha). it's not as big as jump as either of those would be to anything after the moon & antarctica. once you've listened to all of the modest mouse albums (or even somewhere in between), you should also check out the ugly casanova album from between moon & antarctica and good news. it's in the same vein as modest mouse (because isaac brock is involved), but it's a little weirder.
I guess the questions was "which one should I listen to first" but if for some reason you were thinking about not listening to Long Drive at all, rethink that.
The Moon & Antarctica Good News for People Who Love Bad News This is a Long Drive The Lonesome Crowded West Strangers to Ourselves We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank Since its release, Strangers has sunk a couple spots in my ranking, but I think it contains some of their best work and honestly each of their albums are great in their own unique way. That's why they continue to be my favorite band. Their EPs/b-sides are usually interesting but of varying quality.