Pitchfork

The first single from the new Johnny Marr-enhanced Modest Mouse is so radio-ready, you can almost hear the future Kidz Bop version echoing in the background, a children's chorus taking the place of the disco strings that swell behind Isaac Brock. "Dashboard"'s slinking string lines provide the song's most surprising touch-- though they echo Brock's melody, their fluidity sounds alien in Modest Mouse's world of clanking guitars and metronomic drumming. Those dead-stringed guitars and backbeats are odd, though-- drummer Jeremiah Green and new guitarist Johnny Marr made their names on complexity and trickiness, not fist-pumping. This could have been better if Brock had contrasted this uncomplicated, upbeat song with darker, troubling lyrics. Instead he sings, "The dashboard melted but we still have the radio," and I think this is a metaphor for, "we'll all float on ALRIGHT."