I'm pretty sure I've written quite a bit about
Modest Mouse, however I have not had the opportunity to write about my all time favorite song by them, and I thought to myself, the time is right. The song comes off of their 2007 album
We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, and track 12 happens to be the eight and a half minute masterpiece,
"Spitting Venom." And through the transitive property,
Modest Mouse being one of my all-time favorite bands, and this being one of my favorite songs from the indie rock legends-this must be one of my favorite songs of all time, and for good reason.
A little history of the album, it followed the moderate success of their fourth studio album
Good News For People Who Love Bad News (one of the first albums I ever bought, shortly after I turned 12). Since the 2004 album, they added former
Smith's guitarist
Johnny Marr. This addition led to a very guitar heavy release of their fifth studio album,
We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. The album had 14 tracks, and for the most part was pretty good, albeit a little more guitar heavy than I was used to for Modest Mouse, it however, was not unwelcome. All in all though the stand alone track was
not the single
"Dashboard" for me, it was
"Spitting Venom"
At present, it is one of the most played songs in my music library. The song starts out with a simple punching guitar and
Isaac Brock's classic lisp and strained vocals, almost coming at you in an angry way. Then comes one of the most amazing and uniquely
Modest Mouse guitar parts (and for
Marr that is impressive to master the feel of a band so well) I have ever heard, breaking in to
Brock's best attempt at a melody worked in to the songs hook. The guitar stutters and whines it's way with the driving drum beat pulsing its way to seemingly a climax-and then the break, with a headnodic drum beat which fits in perfectly. The song swerves and weens it's way toward a horn part that works its way in to the song in a way that I didn't think possible (other great horn-heavy band:
O.A.R.). The song then takes a tangent in to more of a "Dramamine" feel (another of my favorite
Modest Mouse songs). Then comes the fade in to the end, and to be honest you have
no idea what just hit you.
This is a band at one of it's finest moments, a band that has so perfectly mastered their art that you would be hard pressed to find any unintentional flaw. To be honest though, this song is flawless. Kudos to
Modest Mouse for this gem.
"Spitting Venom" by Modest Mouse from We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (2007)-S
P.S. Happy May!
