I am proud to say that I am now a Modest Mouse fan. I may have claimed it in the past, but I was only just kidding myself. Sure I liked Float On and The View but then again, who didn’t? In fact off the top of my head, I couldn’t even remember the name of their last album(Good News For People Who Love Bad News). It was never a case of not liking them, just that I never took the time to get into them. I even went to see them live, however probably wouldn’t have if a friend hadn’t given me his spare ticket. But now that this album has arrived, I’ve been well and truly converted.

There’s just so much to like about it. For starters it’s absolutely brimming with raw energy thanks to Isaac Brocks signature rough-edged style. It can occasionally be in your face, but overall it’s executed excellently to create quite an exciting listening experience. As an added little bonus the album also features guest vocals from arguably my favourite musician of today, James Mercer, and every time he pops up it brings a grin to my face. I can’t really offer much insight into how it compares to previous Modest Mouse work as I don’t really know it (yet). But all in all, I really am impressed by this album. I don’t even feel annoyed that I saw them live before I got to know the songs. Instead the album has altered my consciousness so that I now recollect the experience as three times better than I originally did. Now THAT’S impressive.

March Into The Sea – Whenever I hear this song I visualise Brock stamping up and down, screaming like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum (except with slightly more coherency (only slightly)). It nicely showcases both the energy and string instrumentation I mentioned earlier. Clearly they’ve been taking a few tips from Bridezilla (sorry, Sydney joke)

Missed The Boat – If only marrying a voice was legal……or acceptable…….or in fact practical in any way, shape or form.