Score: 4/5
Washington’s Modest Mouse has truly tested the patience of its listeners. In the longest time between album releases in its history, eight years in fact, the alt-rock band took its sweet time to craft “Strangers to Ourselves.” At first listen, it seems the band was wise to work so long on the album.
The first single, “Lampshades on Fire,” was probably made with the intention of preparing listeners for what is to come from Modest Mouse. This is evident by the track’s strong ties to its 2004 record “Good News for People Who Love Bad News,” specifically the song “Float On.”
In an instant, it is plain to hear the same bouncing rhythm of “Float On,” complete with the same fast-paced singing and zany lyrical content. This cheerful-sounding track is sandwiched, strangely, between the slow opening title track reminiscent of early Wilco and the harsh emotional rocker “S— in Your Cut” that plays like a looser Cold War Kids.
One of the most out-of-place tracks on this album is “Pistol (A. Cunanan, Miami, FL. 1996).” Lead singer Isaac Brock’s voice is under heavy manipulation while he sings in a somewhat knock-off form of The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. Even the songs lyrics and themes — anger, firearms and melodramatic sexual scenes — are enough to tie Brock to Auerbach and other blues acts.
“Strangers to Ourselves” is riddled with odds and ends like “God is an Indian and You’re an A–hole” and “Coyotes.” The former is a short ditty that sounds like a petty alt-country version of a dis track. The latter is a dusty, shuffling waltz with Brock singing about rural life, one of his go-to themes.
Coming in late on the album is “The Tortoise and the Tourist.” The song starts out on a heavy-fisted emotional rock song like most of the Modest Mouse catalog. Halfway through, the track shifts into a starker, stripped-down pop song akin to Bright Eyes’ earliest works.
“Of Course We Know,” the final track, was the final early release for “Strangers to Ourselves” before its went on sale. The song is a sluggish blues ballad that moves in thumping pulses that plays like “The Go-Getter” by The Black Keys from its highly praised 2010 album “Brothers.”
“Strangers to Ourselves” is an adequate addition to Modest Mouse’s discography in its 21-year history. Clocking in at nearly an hour, the album plays somewhat smoothly. The album’s pace is staggered by the varying styles that Brock chose to employ in his songwriting.