Pitchfork

Remember when Modest Mouse added the Smiths' Johnny Marr on guitar, and everybody went crazy? And then they went and debuted at No. 1 with the Pacific Northwest rock band's fifth proper full-length, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, and frontman Isaac Brock reportedly hurt himself, but that was only before he got popped in the head with a bottle? I know, it's been so long I could barely recognize the group in this video, myself. Although that probably has less to do with the length of time since #81 track of 2007 "Dashboard" or the Arbor Day-ready clip for "People as Places as People" than the fact that this video, for fellow Ship song "Fly Trapped in a Jar", is animated-- and most of the band are shown here with the red beehive hair and supervillain eyemask of the bad guy from The Incredibles. So it's not me, it's them. Or actually, it's not them. Whatever.

Directed by the Saline Project, the clip has candy-cane trees and an overwhelming pinkness, conjuring up a kid-ready eeriness that's Dr. Seuss meets Roald Dahl meets Tim Burton. The oompa-loompa band munchkins keep multiplying, while Brock's head appears atop one of the few whose conical dress isn't striped. "One wing wasn't even enough/ It wasn't even enough/ It wasn't even enough to leave," he repeats, his depressive hysteria seeping into the wiry backing. The candy-cane forest turns blue when the disco-infused bridge arrives to bring a little cheer to a song about being "already dead." The visuals get a little samey after a while, leaving the focus on Brock's mouth-foaming yelps and Marr's intricate guitar work. Ah, that's right! I remember those.

[from We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank; out now on Epic]