Modest Mouse

Editor's Review:

Listening to Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks is like taking a morphine stroll through someone else's bewildering dream. Reverb-drenched guitars in linear bending Modest Mouse fashion circle root bass lines, spacious drumming and atmospheric cymbal swells. Throughout the album, singer / guitarist Isaac Brock displays his abstract charisma in a more reserved stance; he sounds less spastic on this album than on their prior releases. His presence is still dedicated, bringing to mind the determination of an Appalachian Snake Handler or cult leader. On the whole, this album represents a more folk-based approach to the songwriting. Even with ghostly backwards melodic phrases, "Here It Comes" keeps the energy downplayed with acoustic guitar and simple drumming. Odd backwoods-sounding percussion feeds "3 Inch Horses, Two Faced Monsters" a certain buck-toothed charm and the heavily drawled, often-repeated cannon "I don't know but I been told / You never die and you never grow old" definitely casts a rickety porch vibe.
Also expressed is their element of playfulness. With bouncy guitar lines, forceful strumming and casual momentum, singing "You're the icing on the cake on the table at my wake" in "You're the Good Things," Brock seems bemused at the prospects of finding the good and humor in death and life's wrongs. With mantra-like incantation of phrases like "Turn off the light 'cause it's night on the sun / You're hopelessly hopeless / I hope so for you" in "Night On The Sun," Brock's ideas become hypnotic like a brainwashing televangelist's sermon. Although the album's a bit on the short side, it's still worth picking up.
- Maurice S. Teilmann


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Record Label Epic Released August 2002

Tracks Willful Suspension of Disbelief Night On The Sun 3 Inch Horses, Two Faced Monsters You're the Good Things The Air So Much Beauty In Dirt Here It Comes I Came As A Rat (Long Walk Off A Short Dock)

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