The Moon & Antarctica [LP]

Modest Mouse: Isaac Brock (vocals, guitar); Eric Judy (bass); Jeremiah Green (drums).
Additional personnel: Ben Blankenship (guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards); Greg Ratajczak (guitar); Tyler Riley (violin); Brian Deck (keyboards); Ben Massarella (percussion); Chiyoko Yoshida, Tim Rutilli (background vocals).
Recorded at Clava Studio, Chicago, Illinois.
Modest Mouse: Isaac Brock (vocals, guitar); Eric Judy (bass); Jeremiah Green (drums).
Additional personnel: Ben Blankenship (guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards); Greg Ratajczak (guitar); Tyler Riley (violin); Brian Deck (keyboards); Ben Massarella (percussion); Chiyoko Yoshida, Tim Rutilli (background vocals).
Recorded at Clava Studio, Chicago, Illinois.
After wowing the college and indie rock world with two lauded independent CDs, THIS IS A LONG RIDE FOR SOMEONE WITH NOTHING TO THINK ABOUT and THE LONESOME CROWDED WEST as well as many EPs, Modest Mouse signed to a major. This is often a cause for apprehension with indie favorites, but THE MOON & ANTARCTICA weathers these concerns.
While the band's lo-fi sound is a little higher-fi in this major label debut, the basic pop structures that have always tied Modest Mouse's music together are pushed more to the forefront, and the production works well. All sonic changes are slight, and the band's sardonic, slightly skewed lyrics, with their evasive take on modern life, maintain their bite. Even the poppiest tune, the breezy "Gravity Rides Everything," is fraught with tape-effects and arrhythmic percussion. The band also retains a punked-out, dissonant, discordant approach on some tracks, such as the infectious "A Different City" and the creepy "Alone Out There." THE MOON & ANTARCTICA finds Modest Mouse with its musical integrity still intact.