The Moon & Antarctica

• Artist: Modest Mouse
• Rating:
• Release Date: June 13, 2000
• Type: Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: Rock

Review

Modest Mouse's Epic debut, The Moon & Antarctica, finds them strangely subdued, focusing on mortality as well as the moody, acoustic side of their music and downplaying the edgy, spastic rock that helped make them indie stars. Not that their first major-label release sounds like a sellout -- actually, the slight sheen of Brian Deck's production enhances the album's introspective tone -- but occasionally The Moon & Antarctica's melancholy becomes ponderous. Unfortunately, the album's middle stretch contains three such songs, "The Cold Part," "Alone Down There," and "The Stars Are Projectors," which tend to blur together into one 17-minute-long piece that bogs down the album's momentum. Individually, each of these songs is sweeping and haunting in its own right, but grouping them together blunts their impact. However, this trilogy does provide a sharp contrast to, as well as a bridge across, The Moon & Antarctica's more vibrant beginning and end. Though it explores death and the afterlife, The Moon & Antarctica's liveliest moments are its most effective. "3rd Planet"'s simple, ramshackle melody and strange, moving lyrics ("Your heart felt good"), the elastic guitars on "Gravity Rides Everything," and the angular, jumpy "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes" and "A Different City" get the album off to a strong start, while the fresh, unaffected "Wild Packs of Family Dogs," "Paper Thin Walls," and "Lives" bring it to an atmospheric, affecting peak before "What People Are Made Of" closes the album with a climactic burst of noise. Their most cohesive collection of songs to date, The Moon & Antarctica is an impressive, if flawed, map of Modest Mouse's ambitions and fears. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
3rd Planet (Lyrics)	Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse	Modest Mouse	(3:58)
Gravity Rides Everything (Lyrics)	Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse	Modest Mouse	(4:19)
Dark Center of the Universe (Lyrics)	Modest Mouse, Isaac Brock	Modest Mouse	(5:02)
Perfect Disguise (Lyrics)	Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse	Modest Mouse	(2:41)
Tiny Cities Made of Ashes (Lyrics)	Modest Mouse, Isaac Brock	Modest Mouse	(3:41)
A Different City	Modest Mouse, Isaac Brock	Modest Mouse	(3:08)
The Cold Part	Modest Mouse, Isaac Brock	Modest Mouse	(5:00)
Alone Down There (Lyrics)	Modest Mouse, Isaac Brock	Modest Mouse	(2:21)
The Stars Are Projectors	Modest Mouse, Isaac Brock	Modest Mouse	(8:46)
Wild Packs of Family Dogs	Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse	Modest Mouse	(1:45)
Paper Thin Walls (Lyrics)	Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse	Modest Mouse	(3:01)
I Came as a Rat (Lyrics)	Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse	Modest Mouse	(3:48)
Lives (Lyrics)	Modest Mouse, Isaac Brock	Modest Mouse	(3:18)
Life Like Weeds (Lyrics)	Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse	Modest Mouse	(6:30)
What People Are Made Of (Lyrics)	Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse	Modest Mouse	(2:14)

Credits

Phil Ek (Engineer), Brian Deck (Mixing), Mary Maurer (Art Direction), Isaac Brock (Vocals), Isaac Brock (Guitar), Jeremiah Green (Photography), Brian Deck (Producer), Eric Judy (Photography), Chiyoko Yoshida (Vocals), Monster X (Design), Jeremiah Green (Drums), Bob Ludwig (Mastering), Eric Judy (Bass), Isaac Brock (Photography), Isaac Brock (Songwriter)