Modest Mouse is back again. Epic records has released this latest EP titled Everywhere and his Nasty Parlor seemingly in an attempt to cash in on a band whose popularity has peaked. Modest Mouse’s new EP isn’t exactly what you might call a brand new EP; Of the eight tracks on the EP, four were released in 2000 on “Night on the Sun” by Up Records, the band’s former label.

Everywhere and his Nasty Parlor is an odd collection of songs; some are old, a few are new and a couple seem to be band experiments. “Night on the Sun” sails into familiar territory and most resembles what might be considered traditional Modest Mouse. The standout track of the album, “Night on the Sun” builds slowly and echoes the vocal cadence of some of the earliest Modest Mouse songs (which is probably why it was the title track of their last EP). Long and drawn-out, “Three Inch Horses, Two Faced Monsters” is Modest Mouse doing their best Velvet Underground, a very spacey jam that wanders aimlessly. One of the oddest songs is the atypical “You’re the Good Things.” Jaunty and optimistic, “You’re the Good Things” is a bouncy tribute to someone Issac Brock calls “the icing on the cake on the table at my wake.” Clearly topping that absurdity is “The Air,” a bizarre remix of many Modest Mouse songs thrown into one. Strange and sobering, “The Air” is not exactly what we have come to expect from Washington’s finest degenerates, but still somehow fitting for a band that refuses to stand still.

“So Much Beauty in Dirt” borrows heavily from other Modest Mouse work. Both lyrically and sonically, the same themes are being used, but to much less avail. Brock’s uses his rap-like lyrical style to rhyme and only fill in the spaces, “Outta breath and outta cash, find yourself watching M.A.S.H. Uninspired and sing-songy, “I Came as a Rat” is most akin to songs on The Moon and Antarctica but is even less appealing than the first release.

While not exactly a proper release to follow their last full length The Moon and Antarctica, Everywhere and his Nasty Parlor is definitely a diversion from the Modest Mouse of the mid-nineties. A little spacier, a lot less aggressive and not quite so serious, Everywhere and his Nasty Parlor is a glimpse of a changing band, arguably one who has lost some the blistering bitterness that made it great. Thus far, the band’s releases on Epic have been far less spectacular than the bar it set for itself with its first few releases. On its next full length, the band might redeem itself with a smaller recording environment and less wacky studio effects.