MODEST MOUSE - This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About 2LP

Modest Mouse's debut album has long been held as an indie favourite; and perhaps it is cliche to remark upon their move to poppier song structures in their later career, but this is truly a band whose earlier material surpasses their later material by far.

It has just enough pop, but with an angsty bite to it, a trait that has lessened in their releases over the years. It is longer than most of their other albums as well, clocking in at nearly 80 minutes.

It starts off with the mournful sliding, overlayed guitars and bass of Dramamine, displaying one side of Modest Mouse - the mournful, calm and angsty (but not overly-dramatic) side. Each track leads logically into the next, making the album feel less like a collection of songs and more like a cohesive whole, surprising for a debut album, and unlike their later albums.

The production is absolutely brilliant - cleverly inserted strings adding to the moody undercurrent of the music, not prominent enough in the mix to saturate the songs, but rather enhance them, seeming like they belonged there all along.