No One’s First and You’re Next sounds like what it is, and for what it is, it sounds pretty good. 
The eight song, 33 minute (legitimately album-length) EP is comprised of songs that didn’t make it onto Modest Mouse’s last two albums, Good News For People Who Love Bad News and We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. Most of the songs either didn’t fit with the overriding theme of the album, were too idiosyncratic, or were too instrumental; but they were strong enough to be deemed worthy of their own official release.
It’s actually a small testament to front man Isaac Brock’s talent and intelligence that he had the good sense not to tack these songs on to two (already lengthy, though excellent) albums, but instead to release them on a lightweight EP where their lack of thematic or stylistic continuity wouldn’t be considered unusual or compromising by the standards of the format.
The quality of the songs on NOFAYN ranges from enjoyable to impressive. “Satellite Skin” is a perfect opener with its steady-handed chord transitions, catchy, vaguely-familiar-sounding melody, solid, grounding hook, and a surprisingly beautiful bridge, while closer “I’ve Got It All (Most)” is one of Brock’s most poppy and compassionate tracks, bearing a strong resemblance to everything ever put out by Built To Spill. Both are typified by We Were Dead…’s bright, wiry guitars that many attributed to the presence of Johnny Marr.
In between those stellar bookends, Brock indulges in a couple of his more cherished sounds in the schizophrenic stomp of “King Rat,” the warped brass-band honky-tonk of “Perpetual Motion Machine,” the gentle banjo-affected lullaby “Autumn Beds” and the intensified indie-rock jammery of “The Whale Song.”
Modest Mouse could have done any number of things with these songs: made them bonus tracks, free downloads, saved them for some odds n’ ends set down the road, etc. Making them into a stand-alone EP was probably the most profitable way to release them and at the same time make them appear more relevant. In the end, NOFAYN is an enjoyable if inessential release from one of the decade’s most essential bands. And that’s all that needs to be said.
No One’s First and You’re Next is available now on Epic.
Tracklisting:
01. Satellite Skin
02. Guilty Cocker Spaniels
03. Autumn Beds
04. The Whale Song
05. Perpetual Motion Machine
06. History Sticks To Your Feet
07. King Rat
08. I’ve Got It All (Most)
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