The Golden Casket is the seventh studio album by the American alternative rock band Modest Mouse, released on June 25, 2021, on Epic Records. Produced by Dave Sardy and Jacknife Lee, the album was preceded by the singles, "We Are Between", "Leave a Light On" and "The Sun Hasn't Left".
This album is the last to feature founding drummer Jeremiah Green, who died the following year in 2022, and is the last to feature band members Tom Peloso, Jim Fairchild, https://www.instagram.com/p/CQbhUTpBpkR/ and Lisa Molinaro.
Critical reception
The Golden Casket received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 78, which indicates "generally favorable reviews," based on 12 reviews. Reviewing for Rolling Stone, Kory Grow characterized the album as "textured and messy as humanly possible," writing: "Like many Modest Mouse records, The Golden Casket sounds cluttered." Conversely, Pitchforks Evan Rytlewskia called the album a "procession of pinging, clanging, reverberating tactile pleasures". NMEs Jordan Bassett gave the album five stars, labeling it a "masterful psychedelic patchwork." He concluded with a quote from a fan: "Brought me comfort at 13… Bringing me comfort at 31. My goodness does life go by quick."
Track listing Songwriters adapted from the album's liner notes ASCAP.
Personnel All credits for The Golden Casket adapted from the album's liner notes.
Modest Mouse Isaac Brock – vocals (1–8, 10–12); electric guitar (1–6, 8–11); finger snaps (1, 5); bass synth (1); mouth percussion (4); modular synth (5, 8, 10); soft drink percussion, banjo, vibraslap, spacephone, melodica (5); tom percussion, bass guitar effects, Speak and Spell, electronic loops (6); verse bass guitar (7, 8); guitars (7, 12); marimba, synths, drum machine (7); ebo guitar, kalimba (8); main synth, wasp synth (9); bass guitar, 101 synth (10); creative direction Russell Higbee – bass (1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12); arp synth (1, 10); electric guitar (2, 3, 7, 10); Mini Korg (3); Farfisa (3, 5); verse and chorus synth (4); Solina (10); synth, drum programming (11) Jeremiah Green – drums (1, 3–12); finger snaps (1); drum machine (5, 9); tom percussion (6) Lisa Molinaro – vocals (4, 5, 7), viola (5, 12), background vocals (11) Ben Massarella – shaker (1, 4, 5, 7–11), toms (1, 6, 8); tambourine (1, 8); claves, cowbell, handbells, xylophone, bamblong (1); paper bags filled with wood (2, 3); drum machine (3); percussion (4, 10); stick bundles (5); cymbals, spare change (8); tambourine hits (9); electronic drums (10, 11); metallic percussion, bongos, water drum (10) Tom Peloso – Wurlitzer (1, 6); bass, horn (3); chorus synth (4), lap-steel guitar (6), melody piano (6); Nord electric piano (9); Fun Machine, piano, Mini Korg, Crumar (11) Jim Fairchild – guitar (3)
Additional musicians D. Sardy – production (1–11); acoustic guitar (1, 5, 6, 9, 11), electric guitar (2, 6, 8), organ (2, 5), synthesizer (2, 5, 8–11), chimes (2), keyboards (4), piano (5, 6, 8); shaker, tambourine (6, 9); drums (6), bass guitar (7, 8, 10), vocals (7, 10, 11), guitar (7), programmed timpani (11); mixing (1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11) Jacknife Lee – production mixing, engineering, bass guitar, drums, guitar, keyboards, vocals (2, 4, 7, 10); percussion, synthesizer (4, 7, 10); background vocals, piano (4) Jordan Katz – horn (7) Ryan Baldoz – cheers (12) Eric Judy – songwriting (4)
Technical personnel Andrew Weiss – production (12) Stephen Marcussen – mastering Stewart Whitmore – mastering John McEntire – mixing, engineering (12) Cameron Barton – engineering (1–11) Jim Monti – engineering (1–11) Jeremy Sherrer – engineering (12) Matt Bishop – editor (2–4, 7, 10) Dylan Odbert – art direction, design
Charts + Chart performance for The Golden Casket Chart (2021) Peakposition
References