Modest Mouse is music for a long drive for someone with nothing to think about, as the title of a previous album put it. A good percentage of the songs are about cars, or driving, or traveling, and on We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank this is as true as ever. Their best previous releases felt like the soundtrack to a road trip across the country – wide open spaces and interesting textures, punctuated by unexpected moments of epic beauty. This record, however, feels more like a morning commute; it mostly chugs along disinterestedly, with the few nice tracks standing out like a break in the traffic.
The big news about this release is that Modest Mouse enlisted guitarist Johnny Marr –the former Smith’s guitarist who has barely been seen since they broke up in the 80’s. But his addition is barely noticeable, and the overall product is, unfortunately, just not that interesting.
Songs like “Fire It Up” and “Education” are formulaic and unoriginal, dense and harsh without any of the sudden moments of harmony or atmosphere that made other Modest Mouse records so exciting. That’s not to say there aren’t some good tracks on this record. They are mostly the result of James Mercer, vocalist for The Shins. He makes “We’ve Got Everything” more melodious, and provides enough inspired touches to the trite “Florida” that it becomes enjoyable. Closing track “Invisible” is fabulous, and the first, “Dashboard,” is catchy.
But a few pleasant tracks do not an album make. The majority of We Were… is boring and uninspired, and even the standouts only stand out by being slightly better than passable. To put it in terms they would use, Modest Mouse is just spinning their wheels.
