There are circles in America in which Modest Mouse are heralded as the band of drifters who will bring folk to the hipsters. The time is right, the argument runs, for their brand of earthy realism to take root. But if this is folk music, then why is the lead single called ‘Float On’? Perversely, the burly campfire chorus of “alright already, if things get heavy we’ll all float on alright” is more evocative of Malibu Stacey than Woody Guthrie.
But then Modest Mouse are unashamed drifters, and no one genre is their home. Clearly Modest Mouse want to make deeply American music, all tumbleweed, endless highways and grizzled beards, but the introspection and guile which permeates Good News For People Who Love Bad News keeps giving them away, and ultimately you long for some rustic Sheriff to growl “You boys ain’t from around here are you?”.
Nonetheless there are real high points, most notably ‘Dance-Hall’, which is a magnificent and unlikely fusion of post-punk and bluegrass, charged with the visceral dead-eyed aggression of corn-grit America, and an extremely welcome nod to Ennio Morricone.
All in all, Good News For People Who Love Bad News is something of a curiosity and a mongrel. It may not quite be the low down dirty one it wants to be, but when it bares its teeth the resulting snarl is loaded with character.