Modest Mouse on the “Third Side Of The Moon” and the longevity of an aging artist

12:28 PM EDT on May 12, 2026

If you haven't done it yet, I strongly suggest that you set aside some time and read our man Chris DeVille's report from Modest Mouse's Ice Cream Floats concert cruise. It gets into all kinds of fascinating subjects of study — what it means to be an idiosyncratic aging artist with a serious fan base, the slow-creep way that indie rock has transformed into lifestyle music, the reason that the cruise couldn't go to Alaska as Isaac Brock originally wanted.

As it happens, I'm about to make my own cross-country trip to see Modest Mouse live. This weekend, they're playing at Salt Lake City's Kilby Block Party festival. I'm not going there specifically to see them or to file a long and thoughtful feature like the one that Chris wrote, but I'll be there, and I'll be writing stuff. Also! New Modest Mouse! Next month, the band will self-release An Eraser And A Maze , their first album on an independent label since The Lonesome Crowded West in 1997.

We've already posted Modest Mouse's early tracks " Look How Far... " and " Picking Dragons' Pockets ." Today, they share "Third Side Of The Moon," a queasy and contemplative churn that's been part of their live show for the past few years. Modest Mouse seem to be at their best when they're contemplating the moon. I'm not sure where its third side is, or what that would even be, but maybe they're discovering new areas of the lunar map. Check it out below.

An Eraser And A Maz e is out 6/5 on Isaac Brock's own Glacial Pace label.

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_Originally reported by [Stereogum](https://stereogum.com/2498673/modest-mouse-third-side-of-the-moon/music/)._