Modest Mouse
An Eraser and a Maze (Glacial Pace Recordings)
Release Date: June 5, 2026
By Scott Deckman
At this point, a lot of people are probably thinking, “What the fuck happened to Modest Mouse?” And if they’re not, they probably should be. When the band first came onto the national scene in 1997 with The Lonesome Crowded West, their second full-length, the music was caustic and inventive, chaotic one minute, dancy the next. And that’s when it wasn’t evoking pathos. The lyrics were deep, but could be so downright bleak you often wondered about the kid with the lisp, like, what the hell is up with this guy? Is he okay? Isaac Brock sang as if he saw the world through bleak-colored glasses, hold the Orange Julius. The Lonesome Crowded West is considered a classic. In early 2000 came the very strong compilation Building Nothing Out of Something (maybe the ultimate Modest Mouse album name), in anticipation of what many consider the band’s magnum opus, The Moon & Antarctica, released in June of that year. This record expanded on the sound of The Lonesome Crowded West, upping the production in a good way. The songwriting was at least as strong. If anything, it’s even better than The Lonesome Crowded West. And just as dark. Then the band hit the big time in 2004 with Good News for People Who Love Bad News, and for a while, the ubiquitous “Float On” was everywhere. If it was a step down in quality from the two albums preceding it, you had to feel glad for the band. A lot of the time you get your flowers well after you deserve them. Then came the next three records which were, charitably speaking, uneven. Adding Johnny Marr to your team always sounds like a good idea, but it didn’t help. (He joined the band for 2007’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.)
Which brings us to An Eraser and a Maze. Brock is the only player left standing from the original trio; it’s his band. First song and second single “Picking Dragons’ Pockets” lets you know his voice will probably be up in the mix (it is, throughout); since the early days, his voice has generally been louder on consecutive releases (it can be a little disconcerting for fans of the band’s earlier work). “Remember Yourself” is a trip back into slow-paced, heartfelt territory that adorned Good News for People Who Love Bad News: Isaac + guitar + spare accompaniment, his unique, pitiable purr dominating. Follower “Life’s a Dream” is on the light and speculative side, with a short hollow percussion bridge. Both songs include guitar that points towards classic Modest Mouse. “Third Side of the Moon” (coincidentally the record’s third single) is about confronting loss, and continues Brock’s passion for geographical, space, and otherworldly metaphors. The slow song, buttressed with technology, is sad, whoever he references. “Dogbed in Heaven/Give it a Skeleton” again sees Brock in sentimental mode, one minute hoping people miss him and weep when he’s in heaven, the next talking about giving “a cause” a skeleton so it can walk around, inferring that maybe, ego side, none of us are that special. All Hail the King of Juxtaposition. There is a country feel on the track he’s no stranger to. But there are times where Brock can be masturbatory, knowing fans will buy his work, even if his self-satisfaction can annoy.
There is interesting guitar work, married with some type of effects, on the hypnotic “I Can’t Right Talk Now,” which sounds like it skipped its way past the last four full-lengths, a somewhat natural progression from The Moon & Antarctica. It also features backup female vocals reminiscent of Nicole Johnson, who lent her voice to, among others, the excellent “Grey Ice Water” from the aforementioned 2000 comp. This may be the record’s high-water mark.
“Speak’N Spell (Or Not)” features Mouse-like guitars and a familiar chord and note progression, and, even out of context, the chorus seems made for critics like me: “I guess this is as far as we go.” “Absolutely Necessary Never” is indebted to British post-punk shot into the present, with synths and/or computers driving the mid-tempo, pulsating song. It’s very rhythmic and almost sounds like Modest Mouse Studio 54. “Song About Nothing” is faster and bounces along. Here, Brock gets to exercise his demon voice and particular brand of ennui. The record features three interludes throughout, the first of which is named as such. Buried at track 14 is first single “Look How Far…,” which, if not for the disjointed verses, would be the album’s hit, if there was one, a sub-two-minute treatise on the stupidity of man. Closer “Impossible Somedays” reads like Brock’s personal life statement. If you’re still wondering what the fuck happened to Modest Mouse, so is Isaac, likely. Though pretty average and, interestingly, backloaded for some reason, An Eraser and a Maze still has its bright spots.
