Modest Mouse
We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
2007
“We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank” opens with singer Isaac Brock screaming the most bizarrely hateful lyric of all time: “If food needed pleasing you’d suck all the seasoning off/Suck it off!” This first track, “March Into The Sea” introduces the nautical themes Modest Mouse attempt to carry through the record with varying degrees of success. Also present throughout is a lyrical focus on damaged love and broken relationships. One could conclude that this is the first pirate breakup album ever recorded.
On “We Were Dead…” Modest Mouse are joined by former Smiths guitarist/songwriter Johnny Marr and he shows his stuff early on in the single “Dashboard” with its funky opening riff. His influence isn’t felt much other than that though; the Brock/Green songwriting partnership is so unique that it’s hard to break through.
The songwriting style employed here, although still unique to the band, is much more conventional than previous releases. Similarly they abandon the genre-mixing approach and stick mainly to modern rock arrangements: loud guitars, big drum sounds, assorted keyboard tracks and not much else. This works fine for inspired tracks like “March Into The Sea”, “Education” and “Fly Trapped In A Jar” which all manage to move in variations which defy their humble instrumentation. Others don’t fare as well.
The downfall of “We Were Dead…” is its failure to maintain momentum. It starts out hot but weak tracks “Fire It Up” and “Florida” damage the flow until it picks up with the melodic “Parting Of The Sensory”. Things move well until “Spitting Venom” which runs about five minutes too long. Brock’s tendency to create vocal-driven breakdowns at the end of songs is exciting when it fits the track but can get tiresome when overdone, as it is here.
Modest Mouse remain a colorful and exciting young band but this is some of their weaker material. Isaac Brock is (among young singers) in a league by himself with his esoteric lyrics and spastic delivery but the songs on “We Were Dead…” don’t rise high enough to match that ingenuity.
Best Track: “Fly Trapped In A Jar”
On “We Were Dead…” Modest Mouse are joined by former Smiths guitarist/songwriter Johnny Marr and he shows his stuff early on in the single “Dashboard” with its funky opening riff. His influence isn’t felt much other than that though; the Brock/Green songwriting partnership is so unique that it’s hard to break through.
The songwriting style employed here, although still unique to the band, is much more conventional than previous releases. Similarly they abandon the genre-mixing approach and stick mainly to modern rock arrangements: loud guitars, big drum sounds, assorted keyboard tracks and not much else. This works fine for inspired tracks like “March Into The Sea”, “Education” and “Fly Trapped In A Jar” which all manage to move in variations which defy their humble instrumentation. Others don’t fare as well.
The downfall of “We Were Dead…” is its failure to maintain momentum. It starts out hot but weak tracks “Fire It Up” and “Florida” damage the flow until it picks up with the melodic “Parting Of The Sensory”. Things move well until “Spitting Venom” which runs about five minutes too long. Brock’s tendency to create vocal-driven breakdowns at the end of songs is exciting when it fits the track but can get tiresome when overdone, as it is here.
Modest Mouse remain a colorful and exciting young band but this is some of their weaker material. Isaac Brock is (among young singers) in a league by himself with his esoteric lyrics and spastic delivery but the songs on “We Were Dead…” don’t rise high enough to match that ingenuity.
Best Track: “Fly Trapped In A Jar”
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