Strangers to Ourselves

You all know the feeling of waiting on your favorite band to make another album. Time drags by and you think all hope is lost. Well, after 8 long years Modest Mouse is back with their new album “Strangers to Ourselves”, and my wait is over. Being a pretty huge Modest Mouse fan myself, I could not contain the excitement when I learned of the new album and patiently awaited the release.

A few of the songs were released as singles before the album was officially released including “Lampshades on Fire”, “Coyotes”, and “The Best Room”. These songs are all incredible and only made me more excited about the full release of the album.

One of the my favorite things about Modest Mouse is the variation of styles used in their songs which is prevalent in “Strangers to Ourselves”. The songs can range from a soft mostly vocal and guitar feel like in “Coyotes” to a mesh of different instrument and vocal sounds that gives almost a circus vibe in “Sugar Boats”.

Throughout the album you can hear the different influences and all of the different Modest Mouse sounds throughout the years. Some songs sound more like their album “Teeth like God’s Shoeshine”, while others clearly sound like “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank”. Other influences can be heard but the point is this album has a little bit for everyone and revisits some of the older influences that die hard Modest Mouse fans know and love.

My only issue with this album though is the song “Pistol”. It barely sounds anything like Modest Mouse and is very electronic. It makes absolutely no sense on the album and is very worthy of the skip button. Other than that this is an amazing album, and I give it an 8.5 out of 10 and would definitely recommend it.