Pitchfork

Modest Mouse will release "Dashboard", the first single from the forthcoming We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, on January 16, but you can stream it today from their MySpace page. UPDATE: AVOID RUPERT MURDOCH BY CLICKING HERE.

Though Isaac Brock is still writing half-nonsense witticisms like "We talked about nothing, which was more than I wanted you to know," the band are at their bounciest and most hi-fi on "Dashboard". The echoey electro passage a little over halfway through is especially good, though the rest of the track's bright horns, steady four-to-the-floor beat, and occasional touch of disco strings almost had us convinced this was a Franz Ferdinand song.

Brock doesn't seem content to have just one star collaborator in new Modest Mouse member Johnny Marr. The Shins' James Mercer guests on three We Were Dead tracks: "We've Got Everything", "Florida", and "Missed the Boat". Other song titles include "Fire It Up", "Steaming Genius", "Parting of the Sensories", and "Spitting Venom".

Modest Mouse wrap up their mini-tour of Australia with a January 6 date at the Southbound Festival in Busselton's Sir Stewart Bovell Park.

BONUS: CHECK OUT THIS PHOTO FROM THE "DASHBOARD" VIDEO SHOOT: