Music of the Day, 19 January 2024
now the blow's been softened
Yesterday’s MotD almost certainly played a role in today’s featured song coming to mind, but it was circuitous. As I was lying in bed last night awaiting sleep, the bouncy keyboards that come in about midway on “Follow Your Bliss” came to mind, and it occurred to me that they remind me of another song. The title—along with any other identifying features—ultimately proved more elusive than sleep. I’m still not sure what piece my tired mind was trying to pull into awareness.
This morning, a couple of hits from a Washington band burbled up… both close, but not right on the target. But then the radio station in my mind started looping bits of a different song from them, so I gave up the quest and found the looping song (which I like better) in my music library.
The two Modest Mouse hits from this album—the 2004 release Good News for People Who Love Bad News—are “Float On” and “Ocean Breathes Salty.” I’m sure I acquired this album1 from an online nautical adventurer, so to speak, some years later. At this point in my life, I was a busy mother of two children, self-employed at a variety of jobs, and living in rural areas. Listening to the radio was not something I did back then, assuming we had reception of any decent stations. Even in the car, it was exceedingly rare to turn it on; if we wanted music, we listened to a CD or mixtape.
My point is that when I first listened to Good News, I had no idea who Modest Mouse was, much less if any of the songs I liked best were hits.2 Their sound intrigued me. Lead singer Isaac Brock has both an unusual voice and delivery style. The music is also singular and varied; it and the lyrics are what made me a fan.
“Satin in a Coffin” is a good exemplar of all of these. That is indeed a banjo (played by Brock) in the intro, and I’m pretty sure it’s an upright bass holding down the low end. The imagery the song calls to mind with its opening lines never fails to amuse me, so much so that I’ve never really thought deeply about the lyrics. They certainly could have an environmental theme, since nearly everything becomes our coffin—and if that’s an accurate read, then hoping someone’s dead rather than sleeping makes some sense too.
All three of the Modest Mouse albums I have were in heavy rotation once upon a time. My kids liked some of the bouncier songs (and later got into the lyrics more, prompting some interesting conversations), such as “Float On,” and while I can’t say I enjoy every song, the band’s unique approach both sonically and lyrically never went stale. (It’s taken me about three times as long as is typical to write this short piece, because I keep going back to listen to various tracks and thereby derailing my train of thought.)
I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be transferring two—Good News and The Moon—from external storage to my laptop for repeat listening for a while. Back in the day, I couldn’t choose a favorite between these two, so some retesting is in order.
And two others: The Lonesome Crowded West (1997); and The Moon & Antarctica (2000)
Reader, they were not