Modest Mouse: This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About (2LP) [GLACIAL PACE]

Why you'll love it

This Glacial Pace 2LP set presses the full album on 180g vinyl across four sides. It's the record that introduced Isaac Brock, Jeremiah Green and Eric Judy, a sprawling indie rock debut built on long drives and wide open spaces.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Pressed in Canada
• Download card included

About the album

The title says it all, really. Modest Mouse's debut is a road record from the Pacific Northwest, full of highways, small towns and the strange thoughts that turn up around mile 300. It first came out on Up Records in 1996, and Isaac Brock later brought it home to his own Glacial Pace label.

They made it at Moon Studios in Olympia, Washington, with Steve Wold producing, and the songs swing between slow, brooding numbers and thrashing guitar workouts. "Dramamine" opens with a woozy, circling riff, "Breakthrough" and "Custom Concern" pile on the tension, and "Novocain Stain" and "Beach Side Property" show off Brock's yelping, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. Mandolin, slide guitar and cello sneak in at the edges, and "Talking Sh*t About A Pretty Sunset" is as good a title as any band has managed.

The Albuquerque Tribune called it "intricate, brainy pop sneaking back into old-time ballads, honky-tonk slide and folk pluck." At four sides long it suits a long drive nicely, though we'd suggest someone else does the driving.

Also at Kops: more Modest Mouse on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Glacial Pace (cat# GPLP-0711), a reissue of the 1996 album.