You have to be bold to attempt a record like this. 11 Modest Mouse covers? Seriously? So what does that sound like, anyway? Ian Brock acoustic after a frontal lobotomy, perhaps. At least, that's what I expect the fans of the Mouse to say. And I am a fan of the Mouse, and my curiosity was definitely piqued by this album. Does the former leader of Red House Painters manage to pull off such an audacious stunt? Well, yes and no. If this had been released as a four track ep featuring the best cuts and leaving the rest for one of those Rhino style retrospective compilations, it might have worked. As it stands, we get too much of an interesting idea.
Pitchfork pretty much demolished this record, though I don't agree with Stephen Deusner's appraisals of the individual tracks. The best cut here is "Ocean Breathes Salty", capturing the morbid longing of the protagonist in a way that the original suggests but never really delivers. Other tracks, such as "Jesus Christ was an Only Child", take a similar approach and collapse into a pile of dust. And really, what is a Modest Mouse track without the nervous energy of Brock's voice, the sense that at any moment he will lose control of it and start ranting in a Tourette's reminiscent froth. Kozelek strums a pretty guitar and his intentions are not necessarily bad, but overall this is a mythical effort akin to trying to roll a boulder uphill.
Rating: pair.
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