Modest Mouse – An Eraser and A Maze

Always a staunch champion for finding the bright side of things, Isaac Brock once again finds himself weighted down by circumstance on An Eraser and A Maze. Reflecting on the death of his former bandmate—indie-rock drummer extraordinaire Jeremiah Green—Brock attempts to make sense of mortality in his own inimitable way. Where the Golden Casket found him appreciating life’s possibilities, An Eraser and A Maze confronts the painful reminder that it could all end at any moment.

While the focus on human struggle is well-trodden territory for Modest Mouse—and even inspired a rather buoyant hit single—few songwriters are as capable as Brock of turning existential uncertainty into a catchy singalong. On the acoustic-led, gently shuffling “Remember Yourself,” he tells himself that he’ll be dead “Sooner than I hope, but I hope I’m wrong,” a stark acknowledgement of life’s brevity that doubles as a reminder to step back when mental exhaustion begins to take hold.

Brock leaves enough space in the song’s lyrics to let us reflect on our own baggage, offering a light touch of reassurance—like a quirky yet poignant greeting card you’d find in a trendy gift shop. Yet it’s not due to a lack of specificity, as Brock wrote it for his daughters, imbuing its simple sentiment with genuine emotional weight. Whereas on the tense and atmospheric “Third Side of the Moon,” he wrestles with Green’s death more directly, filtering grief through his usually tangled inner monologue: “I wish I paid attention to every word that you’d ever said/But you always spoke in a whisper, and I wasn’t good at listening.”

As expected from a band that has fully embraced polished pop anthems and succeeded in doing so, a confounding outcome given their perpetual weirdness, Brock and longer tenured bandmembers Russell Higbee and Ben Massarella strike a confident balance between their pre- and post-major-label eras. Operating once again through their own independent label, Glacial Place Records, the band sounds like they’re figuring out how to align both periods in real time. One of the album’s standouts, “Life’s a Dream,” feels destined to become a fan favorite, pairing groovy, serpentine guitar lines with the sonic depth that made albums like The Moon & Antarctica so special. Elsewhere, the immediately likable “Speak ’N Spell” offers another nod to their earlier strengths, its gleaming, interlocking guitars and melodic drive evocative of indie rock counterparts Built to Spill.

After a satisfying first half that might rival some of their best work, the latter portion favours looser spontaneity over tighter, singles-ready precision. The results, while uneven, are no less compelling. With former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss behind the kit, “Look How Far...” takes aim at how little we, as a collective, have evolved and remain trapped in the same divisive patterns. But for every effective two-minute vent, there’s “Song Like Nothing,” a rambling non-sequitur that lives down to its name.

Though not without its shortcomings, Brock keeps things engaging by throwing plenty of fun curveballs. Blink, and you’ll miss his surfeit of maxims, which often blossom with purpose despite being used in less inspired musical ideas—like the whistling stomp-clap of “Rotten Fruit” or the radio-friendly regurgitations of “Picking Dragons’ Pockets.” It makes An Eraser and A Maze slightly frustrating, landing somewhere between greatness and average. Still, there’s enough here to suggest they’ve got another all-timer in them, and they’re pretty darn close to pulling it off.

An Eraser and A Maze is out now via Glacial Pace Records.