On their seventh album, The Golden Casket, Modest Mouse sounds primed for the summer festival season. The band’s music, once defined by its rambling, existential guitar rock, now aims for bombastic anthems tailor-made for arenas. While these songs’ edges aren’t quite as sharp and the highlights not quite as caustic, many of them sport big choruses that are among the most memorable of the group’s 25-year career. A far cry from the raw indie rock of their 1996 debut, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, The Golden Casket is polished, meticulously constructed, and surprisingly buoyant.
The album’s opening track, “Fuck Your Acid Trip,” grumbles and skitters its way toward a blooming, psychedelic chorus. The anxious, busy production perfectly complements the song’s druggy comedown: “It’s not my weekend, I need to get home,” frontman Isaac Brock mutters. Later, “We Are Between” and “Leave a Light On” offer even bolder, more infectious shots of pop-rock, all while staying true to the slightly off-kilter spirit of Modest Mouse’s output since the release of 2004’s Good News For People Who Love Bad News.
Even the more understated offerings here boast a certain directness, and a few of them take on an intimate tone. “Lace Your Shoes” is gentle and immensely sweet, clearly inspired by Brock’s experience as a father: “I can’t wait to watch you lace your shoes…I can’t wait to watch you go to school,” he coos. Elsewhere, “Transmitting Receiving” juxtaposes the singer’s anxieties about our world’s racing technological advancements with a lush, swaying backing track.
While The Golden Casket doesn’t match the heights attained by some of Modest Mouse’s earlier work, it’s their first album since 2000’s triumphant The Moon & Antarctica that doesn’t feel like it could benefit from some editing. From the opening salvo of “Fuck Your Acid Trip” to the excellent closing track, “Back to the Middle,” with its glimmering guitar and warm, sentimental tone, every song on
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