The alternative rock ensemble hailing from Washington State return with a relatively low key homecoming after eight years with their dynamic yet homogeneous sixth studio album.

 

The obscure fifteen-track collection oozes Modest Mouse’s familiar ambiances with recognisable splashing guitar plucks, compelling disco drum beats and frontman Isaac Brock’s combatant and mysterious croons. The American indie rockers have lost and gained a number of members since their commencement in 1993, nonetheless the current line-up creates a fresh take on the band’s history and continues to take their fans and albums seriously.  

 

Strangers to Ourselves lacks a sense of character as an album, proving to be more conventional than the band’s previous material that embraced extreme emotions and clarity as a compilation of music. Although there is no new direction, certain tracks hold a distinctive consciousness of charisma whilst recapturing Modest Mouse’s detectable hillbilly rage.

 

The cello-driven title track is gentle and ambient, contrasting with the lead single and typical rant pop song ‘Lampshades On Fire’, which is a glossy and captivating disco reggae track that incorporates the unconventional band’s characteristic rhythmic convulsions and elaborately layered backing vocals.

 

Final slow pace tracks ‘The Best Room’ and ‘Of Course We Know’ radiate appeal with the use of opaque psychedelic guitars and distinguishable redneck wails.

 

It was no revelation that Strangers to Ourselves was going to fall short of high expectations, proving to be underwhelming and tame, as with an astonishing back catalogue of impeccable indie rock, the only direction was down.