Isaac Brock's Not-So-Secret Alter Ego...??

Sooner or later, people in bands get restless. They want to do new and/or different things, and for whatever reason--the other members don't want to do it, they want to strike out on their own, the band is about to break up, etc.--they eventually do a side project, solo album, or collaboration. Such was the case with Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock.

After birthing the magnum opus The Moon & Antarctica in 2000, he eventually began work on the Ugly Casanova album. Purportedly the "band" of one Edgar Graham, it was eventually revealed that Brock created this character in order to free himself up from having to do interviews--and, possibly, from having to explain himself. The band also features Tim Rutili from Califone and Pall Jenkins from The Black Heart Procession. As a footnote, both Rutili and producer Brian Deck also worked on The Moon & Antarctica, so there is some overlap between the two releases.

The first question that always comes up with a side project, for me at least, is this: why was it necessary?? Well, in Sharpen Your Teeth's case, it's for two reasons. The first is the genuinely great collaborations that take place. Though the majority of these songs could easily have fit on a Modest Mouse album with no handwringing from fans, the vocals by Rutili and Jenkins add a new dimension and character to the sound. I confess to not knowing much about either Califone or Black Heart Procession, but their voices blend and contrast with Brock perfectly--witness 'Hotcha Girls' and 'Cat Faces' for some truly spellbinding moments.

The other reason this couldn't have been a Modest Mouse release: the lyrics are incredibly poetic, often to the point of abstraction. Brock's lyrics took a transformative turn on The Moon & Antarctica toward a more metaphysical, deep, and introspective direction. They could often veer toward the psychedelic and strange, but Sharpen Your Teeth takes the ball and runs with it. Though the lyrics aren't of the clever-wordplay-that-sounds-cool-but-I-don't-know-what-it-means" of Pavement, they nevertheless have a similar "it sounds good, but I don't really follow." 'Smoke Like Ribbons' presents us with:

"Smoke was pulled like ribbons from the windows of the car
I followed the flash of silver from your teeth
above the tarmac the lights were icy green
buried in patterns in your chest, a quiet shimmering
little dipper, tiara-shine, song bird shivery, thin thin dime."

Meanwhile, 'Diamonds On The Face Of Evil' is a series of odd observations with meaningless words tacked on as a kind of refrain:

"The dancers didn't have their feet on aw sheh shah sheh shah
Penny didn't have to whistle aw sheh shah sheh shah
She forgot to lay the eggs ah sheh shah sheh shah
Families in the graveyard diggin' ah sheh shah sheh shah."

As a side project, Sharpen Your Teeth is an interesting footnote in Modest Mouse history. For fans of the band, it makes for an alternative to what they would release afterward. Personally, it was the last time Brock released something wholly great. I liked Good News For People Who Love Bad News but it also felt like a step down from The Moon & Antarctica, as well as a step in the wrong direction--something which We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank would prove. However, don't get me wrong. Sharpen Your Teeth is no masterpiece. Its two weakest songs, 'Ice On The Sheets' and 'Beesting' are back to back, and blunt the impact of the album. The former is weak for Brock's predilection for the repetitive lo-fi "yelling through a bullhorn" vocal production sound, and at more than 6 minutes it feels like an eternity. The latter is just plain irritating even at a sub-minute run time and could easily have been left on the cutting room floor. Luckily, the album recovers for its last third, and closes with the magnificent one-two punch of 'Things I Don't Remember' and 'So Long To The Holidays.'

I suspect that this album isn't that well known, despite the popularity of Modest Mouse. I didn't know about it until a year or so after its release when I was looking for gifts for a girlfriend, and it was a great surprise for us both. And really, that's what you're going to get out of Sharpen Your Teeth. As I said before, it's no masterpiece--or even a secret masterpiece, considering its side project status--but it is a truly great album that fans of Modest Mouse will undoubtedly appreciate.