Modest Mouse has been hard at work on their latest album, which is still untitled (yes, still). There last proper full-length was in 2007 with the lengthy titled album “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.”
In other Modest Mouse news, the boys, in collaboration with pitchfork’s new TV feature, released a 45 minute documentary appropriately titled “Modest mouse: The Lonesome Crowded West.”
“The Lonesome Crowded West was the group’s second album, released in late 1997. It was abrasive and gritty, but included nice glowing ballads and lyrical tornadoes penned by the group’s front man, Isaac Brock. The documentary chronicles the group’s recording of that album, interviewing producers who had a place in the recording, members, the group’s record label head at the time, and other friends and family who were involved in the process of ‘the Lonesome Crowded West.”
The album shines with melancholy lyrics of road travel and love- all penned by Brock. For any music fan, and especially fans of Modest Mouse, this documentary is an absolute must-see. The group is infamously quiet about their creative process. This is only further proven considering how awkward most of the group members are in this documentary, most damningly at Jeremiah Green who is a phenomenal drummer but bizarre interviewee.
The greatest aspect of this documentary is clearly the old stock footage of the group during their earliest days, where they placed fantastic lyrical-penning and intuitive hooks over slick-clean production and collaborations with washed up hip-hop artists.
For what it’s worth, Modest Mouse crafted and released a 75 minute opus of an album in late 1997, and it has been documented wonderfully by Pitchfork for your viewing pleasure.
Watch the doc below:
