Modest Mouse

Since Modest Mouse has crept into the consciousness of the MTV crowd, longtime fans are surely feeling the need to shield the band in their protective bosoms from the evils of the mainstream. The good news is that while the band’s latest platter incorporates pristine production with more bells and whistles, the music remains strangely beautiful. Led by reclusive vocalist Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse has brightened its spacey sound with horns, banjos and even ukuleles. The music, however, still revolves around Brock’s unfettered vocals. In “Float On” Brock sounds eerily similar to David Byrne, wailing and chirping, “Well, a fake Jamaican took every last dime with that scam/ It was worth it just to learn some slight of hand.” But it’s songs like the lush “Blame It on the Tetons” and “The Good Times Are Killing Me” that display Brock’s aptitude for masking disparity with beauty. With Modest Mouse dipping its toes in the mainstream, the band may make sad optimists out of all of us.See Modest Mouse at the Senator Theater Friday, July 16.