In recent years, Modest Mouse studio albums haven’t kept pace with their touring schedule. There have been big gaps in studio recordings, and they’ve only debuted a few songs under the lights. That makes every new LP a reason to celebrate. An Eraser and a Maze is just such an occasion, where the independently released record may not be their strongest from start to finish. Still, it features plenty of standouts and progressive elements that may have staying power.
The record was originally envisioned as part of frontman Isaac Brock’s Ugly Casanova side project, but the EP expanded and morphed into the band’s eighth studio album. On the one hand, the pastoral “Dogbed in Heaven / Give It a Skeleton” and the abbreviated “Knocked Down by Waves” fit squarely into that project’s aesthetic. On the other, singles “Look How Far…” and “Picking Dragon’s Pockets” hit the Modest Mouse sweet spot.
Miscellaneous elements are thrown in for good measure. However, the interlude and other nuggets of ideas would have worked better as fleshed-out concepts. Fans may be reminded that this is the first record without founding drummer Jeremiah Green. The music still slaps, but the band occasionally opts for inorganic sounds, such as the synth-heavy “Absolutely Necessary Never” and the electronic rhythms of “Rotten Fruit” (featuring pkpkpkp), which feels foreign.
This catch-as-catch-can approach brings together disparate elements, but it also makes space to celebrate their own tradition. “Song About Nothing” contains the frenetic energy of “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes”, culminating with Brock’s signature howls, and “Speak’ N Spell (Or Not)” reminds us how Built to Spill‘s indispensable influence never left.
Modest Mouse are at their best when connecting with listeners on a universal and personal level. Such approaches make their music affective three decades into their career. “Life’s a Dream” rides the delay-effect guitar riff and throbbing bass to full effect. The song flips the concept of life as a dream on its head, suggesting that sleep is the ultimate reality (we take up space when we’re awake, and we’re never alone when asleep).
Conversely, the confessional “Third Side of the Moon” serves as an emotional sequel to the deeply personal “Ansel”. Brock asks, “Am I the shade or a shadow?” and then promptly discloses that, before his mother died, she warned him about continuing down such a dangerous path. The fact that he doesn’t remember her eye color is a bleak and moving (and all-too-human) admission.
Like any good Modest Mouse record, Brock blends the revelatory with the elementary. “Look How Far…” is perhaps the best example, with another critique of this failed state of humanity, coupled with the equally perceptive “Oh my God, we’re so fucking dumb.” It would be laughable if it weren’t so true. “Impossible Somedays” critiques our romantic nature, this tendency to daydream instead of act on what we will someday become.
An Eraser and a Maze explores recurring themes of self-destruction and alienation alongside a newfound fixation with travel. The motif could be a product of Brock’s observations during a layover in Denver or while jostling for position on a plane. However, underlying such customs and rules is an understanding that, as he so aptly puts it, “We’re pretty tricky little animals.” With their usual intensity, as messy and imperfect as it all is, Modest Mouse shine a spotlight on our shared experience.