How could any band fail to benefit from plunking the Smiths’ Johnny Marr behind its guitar? Modest Mouse and Marr don’t fail, exactly, but they also don’t excel as we might have hoped.
The whole thing is a little jarring – beats-per-minute are upped to Smiths par, full-house strings and trumpets ring out in a foreignly dramatic sweep, and Isaac Brock yelps something sort of lame and indecipherable about the dashboard melting but still having the radio. His instantly familiar voice has never before overstayed its welcome, but as part of this densely layered celebration, all those squeaks and warps start to grind on the nerves a bit.
Still – Modest Mouse could rock a straightjacket off the Strokes. Maybe it’s worth getting used to. (SW)
