Modest Mouse: We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

CML call number: CD ROCK Modest
Personnel: Isaac Brock, Jeremiah Green, Eric Judy, Johnny Marr, Tom Peloso, Joe Plummer.
Contents: March into the sea (3:30) — Dashboard (4:08) — Fire it up (4:34) — Florida (2:57) — Parting of the sensory (5:32) — Missed the boat (4:26) — We've got everything (3:40) — Fly trapped in a jar (4:29) — Education (3:56) — Little motel (4:44) — Steam engenius (4:26) — Spitting venom (8:27) — People as places as people (3:42) — Invisible (3:59).
Wired wrote: "Bad news for people who dig bad news (namely music critics): Modest Mouse's third major-label album is damn good. Much like fellow breakout group the Shins, this former indie fave is proving that popular doesn't have to mean mediocre. As the title suggests, We Were Dead... sounds like a collection of frenzied chanteys, with frontman Isaac Brock fearlessly sailing back and forth from Leonard Cohen to Lux Interior. New bandmate Johnny Marr (yes, the legendary ex-Smiths guitarist) keeps it all afloat with his virtuoso twanging" ("Playlist: What's Wired This Month," 4/07, p. 83).