Good News For People Who Like Bad News - Modest Mouse

After 2 weeks, I felt obligated to take Surfer Rosa out and give another disc the proverbial spin. And so, another birthday gift, Good News... got its chance in the spotlight.

A week and a half with the album so far, and I have warmed up to it, but it has been slow. Obviously, I wanted the album largely because of "Float On", a relaxed, mellow, uplifting song - and the only song anyone's heard of. But the rest of the album is more resigned, dour, and at (many) times outright morbid. It was not what I was prepared for.

Which is not to say that I do not enjoy aspects of the album. But it tends to be more because of technical aspects like the mixing of two melodies in "Bury Me With It", or simply because it reminds me of something else, like how "Interlude" makes me think of the midi soundtrack to Monkey Island II.

All this does make me wonder whether spending long enough with an album will make me find things to like about it. Something I learned in one of my psych classes is that people prefer a sound with which they are familiar, but I'm not sure this is applicable. I imagine that if I put in something I was not at all inclined to like, I'd just end up driving myself crazy before long.

Because it's not that long a drive :)