On a hot midsummer August night, Issaquah, Washington’s Modest Mouse returned to Philadelphia to bring their classic brand of indie rock to the masses once again. They’ve got a new album in tow, titled “An Eraser and a Maze”, and it’s a special one. With three new band members in tow as well, this album marks a turning point for the band.
“An Eraser and a Maze” was originally conceived as an Ugly Casanova album, before frontman Issac Brock decided to re-envision it as a Modest Mouse proper album. Isaac’s side project band Ugly Casanova’s original run was from 1997 to 2002, but fans have been hungry to hear more from them since they played a reunion show back in February on Modest Mouse’s inaugural “Ice Cream Floats” cruise. Coincidentally, the opening act is one of Isaac’s bandmates from Ugly Casanova, Tim Rutili’s band, Califone. They got the night started with some heartfelt songs by Tim like “Funeral Singers” and “Electric Fence”.
Modest Mouse finally took the stage after Califone’s set, to much delight of the crowd. They haven’t played Philly since 2024, and fans were eager to hear songs new and old. The band opened the show with the song “Third Side of the Moon”, the lead single from their new album. “Am I the shade or a shadow? Well, I can’t really tell. And I still cannot remember if your eyes were blue or green or brown,” Issac sings, as fans cheered excitedly from the audience. Afterwards, the band launched into the song “Fly Trapped in a Jar” from their 2007 album, “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank”. The energy of The Fillmore exploded as the room sang along to the indie rock classic, followed up only by arguably an even bigger indie rock classic, “Ocean Breaths Salty”. The band wove in and out of more classic songs like “3rd Planet” and “Trucker’s Atlas” before ending the set with an abridged version of “Parting of the Sensory”.
For the encore, the band had something really special hidden up their sleeve. Issac and the band welcomed Tim Rutili from Califone and Ugly Casanova back to the stage, to which they ripped through scorching versions of Ugly Casanova classics “Barnacles” and “Spilled Milk Factory”, before Modest Mouse proper ended the night with “Fire it Up” and their 1999 classic song, “Night On the Sun.” Fans new and old rejoiced as most thought that they would never get to hear Ugly Casanova songs live again, but Modest Mouse made dreams come true this particular night and delivered a setlist full of surprises for even the most hardcore fans. The band proves they’re constantly reinventing themselves and are standing the test of time, joining the ranks of indie rock superstardom well into the 2020s.
Modest mouse
Califone
