Modest Mouse - Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks (Album Review)

 

Modest Mouse - Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks

(2001)

My copy: 2015 reissue by Epic.

Following the success of their first major label release, The Moon & Antarctica, Modest Mouse swiftly followed with an EP that collected scrapped songs as well as the Night On The Sun EP. Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks showcases a transitional phase in the career of Modest Mouse: some tracks are a success and some pale in the light of their earlier work.

The record kicks off with guitar twang and soft, shimmering riffs highlighting the band’s mutation into a softer, more contemplative version of themselves. The focus is now on a wide array of production tricks and effects, which does create an interesting atmosphere now with Isaac Brock’s vocals relinquishing to falsetto harmonies and more resigned singing. There are now synth drones where raging distortion or crackling feedback normally would have gone. “Night On The Sun” dives more into the drunken side of alt-country with a nylon string guitar riff fit for a bumbling cowboy. Underneath the surface the emotional lyrics remain, and mid-tempo muted guitar chugging still occurs though things are much cleaner here. Jeremiah Green’s drums help accent chord changes elegantly as his beat is the driving force of the track. The song opens up further, with layered reverberating guitar riffs that turn things more somber as Brock shifts between shouts and singing. 

“Three Inch Horses And Two Faced Monsters” leans even harder into southern twang with clanging metal, bluesy guitar riffs and fiddle though the tone stays eerie with low droning voices. Brock’s lyrical vocals are distorted and delayed to overlap each other, leading to crescendos that are led by the stacked vocals. Some of the later vocal experiments fall flat and the track lasts too long for how mundane the base composition is. “You’re The Good Things” is upbeat and cheerful before swaying into waltz time and looping back around: this is one of the happier indie rock songs - more in the vein of Pavement and Pixies than Lync or Unwound - but it works here. The track eventually adopts a dance beat before speeding into a psychedelic bridge. 

“The Air” is essentially a remix track focused on ambiance: it chops and screws guitars from various other tracks along with surreal warped vocals. This is probably one of the most experimental of Modest Mouse tracks, but it comes across more as a pastiche of industrial music. “So Much Beauty In Dirt” is a short groove that romanticizes everyday life. Reversed melodies fade in on “Here It Comes” which is sickly sweet and feels like it was made for a corny indie-film. “I Came As A Rat” is included from The Moon And Antarctica to close out the EP which is an odd choice. 

Not their best EP, Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks is more for the devout fan than the average passer-by. The music is more sedated and sonically curious, though most newcomers would be better fit exploring The Moon And Antarctica instead. “Night On The Sun” is the most worthwhile acquisition of this collection.