Modest Mouse returns to Les Schwab Amphitheater
Published 3:30 pm Wednesday, August 25, 2021
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Has any rock band in the past 25 years released better back-to-back albums than Modest Mouse’s “The Lonesome West” in 1997 and “The Moon & Antarctica” in 2000?
Maybe. Probably. But not many. Those two records are absolute paragons of a particular strain of fidgety, frustrated Pacific Northwest indie-rock that has fueled long careers for bands like Built to Spill (who are one of the few bands to release better consecutive records than Modest Mouse since 1997) and Death Cab for Cutie (who will play in Bend on Sept. 6). And back then, Isaac Brock was as good as anyone at turning suburban boredom, Gen X disaffection and the resulting wanderlust into danceable nuggets of disheveled pop-rock.
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That was a long time ago, and Brock is still at it, intermittently and with varying results. In June, the band released its first album in six years, “The Golden Casket,” which is better than its predecessor (2015’s paint-by-numbers “Strangers to Ourselves”) but not as good as those two classics mentioned in the beginning of this blurb. But then again, what is?
Modest Mouse: $49.50; 6 p.m. Sunday; Les Schwab Amphitheater, 344 SW Shevlin Hixon Drive, Bend; bendconcerts.com.