Modest Mouse: No One's First, And You're Next (2009)

New Wax


While No One's First, And You're Next, the latest release from Modest Mouse, can't be considered a proper follow-up to 2007's We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, it contains enough bright moments in its outtakes and leftovers to merit a listen. The EP contains more polished versions of B-sides from 2004's Good News For People Who Love Bad News and the aforementioned We Were Dead. Musically it's all over the place. From the spacey long-player "Whale Song" to the more straightforward "Satellite Skin" to the banjo-laden "Autumn Beds," the band navigates a broad sonic scape. Sometimes they do so beautifully and sometimes you can see why some of these tracks didn't make the final cut. That being said, there are a couple of strong moments on No One's First. There must be some sort of magic in the coupling of banjo with Brock's voice, because banjo-laden tracks "Autumn Beds" and "King Rat" are obvious highlights. No One's First doesn't compare to any of the band's proper releases and even pales in comparison to Building Nothing Out Of Something, which was in itself a collection of leftovers, but it does serve as a nice respite for fans eagerly awaiting a new Mouse LP. -- Capt. Obvious

Listen:
MP3: Modest Mouse - Satellite Skin
MP3: Modest Mouse - King Rat

Tags: Modest Mouse, No One's First, And You're Next