There’s a kind of chaos that only Modest Mouse can bottle up.
And now, they’re back!
If you missed it, the band officially announced their eighth studio album, An Eraser And A Maze. It’s out June 5 via Glacial Pace Recordings. It’s their first full-length album in five years, following 2021’s The Golden Casket.
They’ve already cracked the door open once with “Look How Far”. Now they’re kicking it wide open.
“Picking Dragon’s Pockets” opens with a guitar riff that demands your attention. Then it mutates into something bigger, a glitchy, almost hopeful chorus.
It’s messy in the Modest Mouse way.
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Producing the LP, frontman Isaac Brock takes the reins alongside a stacked crew: Jackknife Lee (U2, The Killers), Suzy Shinn (Weezer, Panic at the Disco), and Justin Raisin (Charli XCX, Kim Gordon, Lil Yachty).
But sonics are only half the story. Brock leans into something looser this time.
“For this one, I turned off my filter and just let it all happen. Even though every goddamn musician says that when they put out a record. I mean, go ahead and listen to the three-minute mark of any interview between a musician and Terry Gross …”
It’s self-aware. A little sarcastic. And completely on brand.
Then he goes deeper.
“Thoughts, emotions, feelings, all that stuff … you’re like the soup, and it’s not always easy to pick out the ingredients. I don’t dwell on things much. I don’t grieve much. I’m not sure I’m a person. I feel like I should have more feelings than I do. But then, you know, I’ll sing stuff. And I’m like, Oh, there it is. Oh — it’s in there.”
Here’s the track list for An Eraser And A Maze”
- Picking Dragon’s Pockets
- Remember Yourself
- Life’s A Dream
- Third Side Of The Moon
- Dogbed in Heaven/Give It A Skeleton
- Interlude
- I Can’t Talk Right Now
- Speak ‘N Spell (Or Not)
- Rotten Fruit (feat. Justin Raisin)
- Knocked Down By Waves
- Absolutely Necessary Never
- Song About Nothing
- Stoner Party
- Look How Far
- Impossible Somedays
Fifteen tracks. Titles that feel like inside jokes, half-truths, and late-night thoughts you weren’t supposed to say out loud.
Meanwhile, Modest Mouse is set to hit the stage at Bonnaroo on June 14.
Five years away. One new record. And a sound that still refuses to sit still.
When modest mouse let the chaos lead, is that when they’re at their absolute best?
