Product Description

Fifth album, following 2004's 'Good News For People Who Love Bad News', from cult US indie rock band. On this release they continue to evolve their unique multifaceted sound, incorporating string arrangements and electronic elements without ever compromising their distinct identity. Features guitarwork by the band's newest member, Smiths legend Johnny Marr, and backing vocals from James Mercer of The Shins. Includes the single 'Dashboard'.

Track Listing

1. March Into The Sea
2. Dashboard
3. Fire It Up
4. Florida
5. Parting Of The Sensory
6. Missed The Boat
7. We've Got Everything
8. Fly Trapped In A Jar
9. Education
10. Little Motel
11. Steam Engenius
12. Spitting Venom
13. People As Places As People
14. Invisible

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1343 in Music
• Released on: 2007-04-02
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Their last album may have given them a certifiable radio hit, airtime on VH1, and a Kidz Bop tribute, but listening to the follow-up to 2004's Good News for People Who Love Bad News, you might get the sense that the members of Modest Mouse are flinching at the spotlight. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, the group's fifth full-length release, is denser than its predecessor with tunes that seem willfully harder to penetrate. Even the addition of former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr to the line-up seems incidental, as Modest Mouse's off-kilter sound stays largely intact. But keep listening and it becomes obvious that the band hasn't lost any of his pop bite, especially midway through with a sweep of terrific songs like "Missed the Boat," "Education" and "Little Motel." It's hard to tell if there's another "Float On" in the bunch. In fact, the first single, "Dashboard," is one of the weakest Isaac Brock has ever penned. With Shins James Mercer adding lovely vocals to "Florida," however, it hardly matters. --Aidin Vaziri

Customer Reviews

From Discordance to Delight
The only reason I bought this album was that I heard this was Johnny Marr's new band (and they were an act that I missed while at a music festival in Australia). I had never heard any of the band's material before. Being an Electronic fan, I was expecting if not the same style, then a fair amount of melodic guitar-based music. It was therefore quite a shock when I stuck the CD on and heard 'March into the sea', and while 'Dashboard' and 'Fire it up' were slightly more palatable, I had basically written the album off as a dud on first listening. But I persevered, and having become used to their unique style, I would say that this is one of the most satisfying, interesting albums that I have heard for a long time.

I am easily bored by some music, and I often fall in love with a track, only for it to go round and round my head so much that it becomes tedious. Modest Mouse's music is so sophisticated that this hasn't happened with 'We were dead..' which is what makes it a stand out album for me.

A more accessible MM album
The phrase "it's a grower" sprung to mind when I first heard "Good News For People Who Like Bad News". A friend of mine introduced me to The Mice a few months back, claiming they were outstanding. I confess, I took time to be convinced. Brock's voice is unique to say the least and it took me a while to appreciate its raw inimitability. As a result "Float On" was the track on "Good News..." that sold MM to me as band I could appreciate - arguably the most refined track on this release. So the release of "We Were Dead..." was very Good News for relative MM-virgins like myself. More accessible than its predecessor whilst maintaining its "indie" edge, it really is a great album. Decidedly more polished, not always a bad thing and certainly not in this case, it swayed me to see them live in Wolverhampton last week. Although slightly disappointed that they didn't play "Missed The Boat" at this gig, which is definitely the album highlight for me, they were self-indulgently brilliant live. Stand-out albums tracks include "Spitting Venom" - a real emotional roller-coaster of an epic with some fantastic brass contributions at its close - and "March Into The Sea" - the perfect `baptism of fire' introduction to Brock's interesting tonal techniques. Brock and his rodent friends are a truly talented bunch who deserve greater accolades than they currently receive. The album is well worth a listen to people who aren't afraid to try something slightly different.

Sinking to the other side
With their last album, Modest Mouse came closer to the mainstream than ever before. They had an MTV video, for crying out loud.

Apparently that rankled the band. because the follow-up "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank" is more densely bizarre and quirky. There's a token single near the beginning, but you might as well skip over it to the high-octane rock and blurry psychedelic layers of sound.

It opens with a skittering accordion solo. But soon it's melodramatic tsunami of raging riffs, with Isaac Brock howling madly, "Well, treat me like disease/Like the rats and the fleas," and faux-laughing. Someone sounds like he's into the bottle, and has decided to scare everybody with what he found there.

It's a very weird intro, which is sound even stranger next to the weak, bouncy powerpop of "Dashboard." That one seems to be made specifically so the album will have a single, so the band can focus on what they really want. Once that single is out of the way, Brock and Co. segue into the dark percussion-pop of "Fire It Up," which is a taste of what's to come.

The rest of the music sticks to the off-kilter quality of the first and third songs -- rattly ballads, meandering high-octane rock, shimmering psychedelica, smoothly haunting pop, and hard-rockers that shift into ambient balladry.... or vice versa. It ends with the catchy, quirky finale -- "Invisible," which opens with fiery, tight riffs, but cascades into darker territory after the halfway mark.

I don't see how Brock and Co. could have become more UNLIKE an MTV band without leaving behind every shred of their previous sound. Sometimes "We Were Dead Before..." can be catchy, but it doesn't really want to make you dance -- it wants to tangle you in its odd melodies, weird singing, and oblique lyrics about flies, tails and death. Lots of death.

Those weird melodies are what ties the album together -- Modest Mouse sticks to fiery electric riffs, bass and drums, flavoured with maracas, accordion, keyboard and handclaps. But they hardly ever use their instruments in a "normal" way -- just when you think you know how the song will go, it changes style, tempo or tune. Heck, "Fly Trapped in a Jar" opens with a guitar imitating a fly.

However, it's the deceptively quiet "Parting Of The Sensory" that really shows how determined they are to be unique. It starts as a folky little song, blossoms into a weird ambient-violin pop song, and finally explodes into a thumping acoustic dance number that cuts off in mid-word.

Isaac Brock is just as dramatic and unpredictable as the music -- he yowls, he sings, he roars, he rambles, and he laughs (", "Ah ha HA! Ah ha HA!") like a demented sailor. His uneven style certainly fits the tone of the lyrics, which sound like a depressed Lewis Carroll wrote them ("We had docked in dark, so we didn't read what the sign read/Though simple enough, it was demure and tough/"The ground needs to be fed").

Modest Mouse's "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" is a moody, colourful extravaganza of unpredictable rock'n'roll, though it suffers from a weak beginning. Definitely worth hearing.