As loosely defined as the genre remains, there’s something culturally vivifying about a legendary indie rock band going back to an independent label. An Eraser and a Maze marks Modest Mouse’s first indie release since 1997’s seminal The Lonesome Crowded West, as well as their first since the death of founding drummer Jeremiah Green, who passed away shortly after 2021’s The Golden Casket. Perhaps more significant than the fact that the new album was released on Isaac Brock’s Glacial Pace Recordings, though, at least from a creative standpoint, is how it was originally destined for the frontman’s solo project, Ugly Casanova. Even with the band’s distinct flourishes and vibrant, sometimes shaky co-production from Jacknife Lee, Suzy Shinn, and Justin Raisen, its unsurprisingly labyrinthine nature often feels like following the whims of their only constant member. With or without major label backing, Brock’s Modest Mouse can sound big and subtle, puzzling and gratifying in equal measure.
1. Picking Dragons’ Pockets
An Erazer and a Maze comes out swinging with its most surefire hit, juxtaposing off-kilter percussion with undeniable hooks: “Well they’ll go crazy if you don’t go crazy somehow/ And I’m not crazy ‘bout what they’re so crazy ‘bout now” is an indelible chorus cut from the same cloth as 2004’s Good News For People Who Love Bad News. For anyone who got into Modest Mouse through that record, it’s a definite way in.
2. Remember Yourself
An acoustic ditty with a big heart, ‘Remember Yourself’ makes space for a mellow guitar part from Simon O’Connor, who’s relatively new to the band.
3. Life’s a Dream
You don’t really need to take a look at the credits to venture that someone who’s worked with U2 had a hand in ‘Life’s a Dream’. That would be Jacknife Lee, who co-produced the track with Suzy Shinn (Weezer), sending it into the stratosphere with crashing cymbals and layered guitars. There’s just not enough weight behind the song’s central hook to justify the overbearing production.
4. The Third Side of the Moon
The opposite is true of ‘The Third Side of the Moon’, which feels like an immediate course correction. Isaac Brock’s mournful, increasingly fervent, and definitely weighty lyrics reckon with the realization that the features of a loved one who’s passed are fading into the ether, and his performance seems to be clenching the fist of memory. Whether or not you’re familiar with the faces he’s referring to, it’s easily the most gut-wrenching song on the album.
5. Dogbed in Heaven / Give It a Skeleton
Sequenced after ‘The Third Side of the Moon’, the first part of the song’s ramshackle charm turns eerily morbid: “I can go to heaven as I fall asleep/ Hope that people miss me and they weep and weep.” But the last songs on side A are also connected via their likeliness to hold the interest of old fans, even if the rubbery ‘Give It a Skeleton’ drags itself a little too long.
6. Interlude
A synth-led interlude that segues into the second part of the record, but also makes ‘I Can’t Talk Right Now’ feel less out of place.
7. I Can’t Talk Right Now
Even with that interlude, it’s hard to make sense of ‘I Can’t Talk Right Now’, which tries to squeeze some amount of meaning out of the difference between different modes of communication. Of course, its hollow breeziness becomes commentary, and a few of Brock’s lines hit: “Gonna keep things cool, maintain an open door/ To a windowless room with no furniture.”
8. Speak ‘N Spell (Not)
Brock’s clumsy sincerity and shaky communication turns anthemic on ‘Speak ‘N Spell’, a reminder that Modest Mouse are perfectly equipped to spin a great, if not nostalgic, song out of “a trifling disaster.”
9. Rotten Fruit [feat. pkpkpkpk]
Over buzzing synth bass and a whistled hook, Modest Mouse team with Charli XCX/Kim Gordon/Grace Ives collaborator Justin Raiser, whose eerie pop flourishes could have coloured more of the record.
10. Knocked Down by Waves
Neither an interlude nor a fully-fledged track, this short acoustic lament is sandwiched between two punchier tunes, though Brock’s desperation still cuts through.
11. Absolutely Necessary Never
Those flourishes certainly do animate ‘Absolutely Necessary Never’, which coasts on a lovely groove that’s never overburdened by the production details: shuffling, swooning, creaking. It feels like the whole record has been inching towards this kind of sonic balance.
12. Song About Nothing
How much can one really say about ‘Song About Nothing’? It serves a functional purpose – you can sing along to it – but adds little to the record, except perhaps cultivating an unhinged energy.
13. Stoner Party
With shouts of “You fuck with us, we’ll fuck with you,” the unruliness starts to feel self-indulgent and haphazard. There’s no “us” or “you” to get riled up about.
14. Look How Far…
A leaner version of An Eraser and a Maze would have existed simply by, well, erasing the previous two songs, if only because ‘Absolutely Necessary Never’ and ‘Look How Far…’ would have made for a solid one-two punch. Aided by Janet Weiss on drums, ‘Look How Far…’ is so aware of its dynamism it doesn’t even cross the two-minute mark, which is pretty bold for a lead single. “I can’t believe how long I’ve wanted to be living in the past,” Brock memorably laments.
15. Impossible Somedays
There’s a funny disconnect between the penultimate song’s freneticism and the pure, soaring nature of ‘Impossible Somedays’. Sleeplessness is a thread throughout the record, which doesn’t end without relaxing into a dream: one where “the rocks become liquid, the liquid it turns into a gas/ And eventually the skies, they turn to glass.” As guitars blaze through them all the same, it’s clear the basic chemistry of this band remains intact.
