Modest Mouse drifted back into a changing world and wrote a song about nothing. A cold apathy Seinfelds its way into the basic-parts arrangement of Song About Nothing – its pseudo-electronica may as well have been stolen from Sleaford Mods’ cutting room floor. Isaac Brock blathers the title; drunk in its withered meaningless.
And then, Stoner Party; a fly-on-the-wall excerpt of a crapulent group shout – “party hardy, rock and roll / pound a fifth, smoke a bowl / we are stoners through and through / you fuck with us, we’ll fuck with you”. The excerpt is unapathetic only in its plot to avenge being fucked with against said fuckers, but its inclusion on An Eraser and a Maze is indicative of how unapathetic the album is.
The daft jingle was written by Jeremiah Green, who drummed for Modest Mouse for much of the band’s tenure. Green passed away from cancer in 2022, and An Eraser and a Maze is the Washington group’s first since.
An Eraser and a Maze includes a song about nothing, but it is not an album about nothing. Modest Mouse’s eighth is a sincerely emotional album that captures joy and sadness the most humanely the band has in about two decades.
It is expected that most bands will release their ‘grieving’ album at some point. An Eraser and a Maze grieves Jeremiah, but also grieves society in its latest decline. Even living in a strange, taxidermy-covered house in the woods doesn’t protect you from our current political hell.
And yes, you read that correctly: there is immense joy in this album about death and shit. Modern culture expects us to go crazy in the spirit of outrage, but Picking Dragon’s Pockets reminds us that Modest Mouse, Isaac Brock in particular, has been going crazy for decades. The album opener is jubilant in that classic, howling mad MM kind of way; spontaneous, if akin to any 2010s-onwards work, then at least Lampshades on Fire-esque.
Human beings are as stupid as ever. Look How Far notes: as long as we’re able to see it, not take ourselves too seriously, not use it to commit to ignorance, we have it in us to be as joyful as the song itself. I only wish it was longer; it may have been as hopeful as Impossible Somedays, with a hungered roar in its lead guitar, akin to what Johnny Marr once cooked up for the Mice.
The entirety of Speak ‘N Spell (or Not) sounds like a celebration of life, soon confirmed by the line “life’s just fucking awesome and I know that it is / I know of this because I’m living it”. Pretty darn tootin’ next to its bursting, Ziggy Stardust-style riff, though Brock still reflects, wishing he could’ve crystal balled incoming hardship.
He wishes he could’ve prepared himself for Jeremiah’s passing, contemplated on Remember Yourself, the sun setting on a bright day. In its acoustic guitar-led motif, the song is not quite reminiscent of the band’s folkier days, but there is a small nod, whereas Dogbed in Heaven runs on a similitude of campfire folk, before twisting into Give It a Skeleton’s wildly emotive, minimalist rock.
Third Side of the Moon’s vocal performance implies a man reflecting on his own decisions, though Brock later becomes unglued – Knocked Down by Waves contains no such subtlety in its drunken madcap; a sailor’s song nobody wants to join in on. Third Side is one of Brock’s best diary entries, straining to preserve all possible information on his late friend, fixating on his eyes specifically.
This is a world, of death and shit, that urges escapism, bursting on Life’s a Dream with psychedelic exploits achieved by a crowded wall of sound that includes glockenspiel, Wurlitzer, mellotron and more. In another turn, Absolutely Necessary Never’s palette is darkly ‘80s, walking into frame on the darkest night in the middle of a crisis, a superiority complex, and a vow to do but inability to act.
There are no bounds to the album’s joy or grieving. There are no bounds to what Isaac Brock wanted to do in a Modest Mouse post-Jeremiah Green. A lineup of several supporting drummers – shoutout to Janet Weiss – declares there is no replacing Jeremiah, while the shifting tone of An Eraser and a Maze declares there is no replacing human feeling. This album is about something.
Best tracks – Picking Dragons’ Pockets – Third Side of the Moon – Speak ‘N Spell (or Not).
Rating – 8 out of 10
