Now Spinning: Modest Mouse - The Moon And Antarctica

the stars are projectors, yeah.
projectin’ our lives down to this planet earth.
everyone wants a double feature,
they wanna be their own damn teacher, and how,
all the stars are projectors, yeah.
projectin’ our lives down to this planet earth.
 

If there is an album that has grown on me the most in the past 4 years, it is this. Yes, behind the game, but it was a gradual realization for me that Modest Mouse’s major label debut is one of the defining albums of the 2000s. I would unquestionably put it in the Top 10 of the 2000s thus far.

I’ve shared many a late night with this album, though the most memorable comes to mind heading home late one night during my brief residence in NYC. Just upon exiting the subway, The Cold Part, in all of its infiniteness, came on as I put my collar of my jacket up to make the jaunt back to my apartment. It really hit me how perfect of an album this is, through and through.

Immediately thereafter, Alone Down There’s chorus of Brock’s plea that he doesn’t want me “to be alone down there” slays me each listen. The previously quoted The Stars Are Projectors that follows is the cornerstone of the album clocking in at 8 epic minutes, only to be relieved by the brief, accordion-infused ballad, Wild Packs of Family Dogs.

When the band surprisingly played I Came As A Rat one night and Lives the other night of Bridge School last year I about near wet my pants; they are two more stellar tracks that both come on the last of the four sides of the vinyl. It is just testament that this front-to-back masterpiece of an album is truly that - an album. It is not a happenstance of songs, rather it is a flawlessly paced and structured piece of work as a whole.

I could keep going. There are simply too many great moments and lyrics on this album to even begin rattling off any more. I will leave it at buy this album immediately if you somehow don’t have it. 

An interesting part of this vinyl: the ending lyric of Perfect Disguise (“broke my back”) is in the inner groove of Side A of the first disc…so it just keeps flowing and repeating endlessly. Very cool. I thought I had a skipping disc the first time I listened until I got up and realized what was going on. 

Not a whole lot of glitz and glam in this packaging, even being the re-issue that came out a few years ago. It is almost as if they still just wanted the music and the solid lyrics by Brock to speak for themselves. Give this album a focused listen and you’ll quickly understand why.