With ‘An Eraser and a Maze,’ Modest Mouse Stick to the Familiar

Isaac Brock has been the sole constant in Modest Mouse for thirty years. On the band’s eighth studio album, An Eraser and a Maze, he’s finally calling the shots on his own Glacial Pace label — a shift that arrives with fewer intermediaries, if not a reinvention of the sound. Songs originally sketched for his solo project Ugly Casanova were fleshed out for the band, and the result rarely strays from the quirky indie rock template that’s been in place since 2004’s Good News For People Who Love Bad News.

The opening “Pickin’ Dragons Pockets” signals continuity rather than rupture. Later, “Remember Yourself” stretches into folky introspection, while “Life’s a Dream” settles into a warm, ’60s-flavored ease. Brock’s voice, often frayed and urgent in the past, relaxes against the layered instrumentation. “Third Side of the Moon” glances back toward the speculative headspace of The Moon & Antarctica, a touchstone for many fans, without attempting to replicate it.

The album’s more intriguing moments arrive when outside influence enters the frame. “Rotten Fruit,” produced by Justin Raisen (known for work with Charli XCX and Kim Gordon), pulls the signature sound toward something more modern, and “Absolutely Necessary Never” leans into a hook-heavy groove. These are brief detours rather than a new roadmap, but they suggest a band not entirely sealed off from current currents. Elsewhere, the record is tidy, sometimes overly assembled — “Speak ‘N’ Spell (Or Not)” plays like a self-conscious collage of Modest Mouse signifiers.

There’s little risk here, and the album doesn’t aim to surprise. But Brock’s songwriting remains capable, and the two-minute punk energy of “Song About Nothing” proves he can still make economy feel sharp. An Eraser and a Maze is an enjoyable listen within a long-established wheelhouse. It sounds good, and the band faces no danger of losing its footing. Whether that’s enough at this stage is the quieter question the record leaves unanswered.