The Golden Casket: Modest Mouse Album Review
The wait is finally over. Quintessential indie-rock outfit Modest Mouse released their seventh studio album, The Golden Casket, on June 25, 2021. The highly anticipated project consists of 12 songs and is just a hair over 50 minutes in length, a bit shorter than most of the bands previous releases. Front-man Isaac Brock and drummer Jeremiah Green, the two remaining members of the original trio, are back full force with their ensemble of other instrumentalists, some new and some old, in addition to a world of new sounds and song concepts. This is, by far, Modest Mouse’s most unique and colorful sounding album to date. The use of synthesizers and a wide range of other electronic instruments gives a majority of the songs on this album a much fuller, more vibrant sound than anything the band has released as of yet. While many critics and casual listeners are struggling to see how The Golden Casket can hold up to the likes of the bands earlier, more well known releases such as the beautifully haunting concept album, The Lonesome Crowded West, or the record that came 7 years later, Good News For People Who Love Bad News, including essential Modest Mouse songs that really put the band on the map in the mid 2000’s and even landed them a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album in 2004. With all of that said, let’s break the album down and discover why it could be their most bold and interesting release so far, and what it could mean for fans in the future.