For myriad reasons musical, sentimental and so on, Isaac Brock’s Modest Mouse have repeatedly proven a particularly important band in my existence. (Good News for People Who Love Bad News was, for instance, the first LP I ever purchased.) And, as Ice Cream Party today comes into its own, I find myself being reminded of their ongoing relevance. (On a personal level, at least.) Not that it’s their finest work, however; far from it: for one, Brock’s lyrics are facile, infantile and, but for the bit about an abusive father, pretty repetitious. Yet redolent of a jazzed, decelerated take on British Sea Power’s Victorian Ice, it’s nice to be served up something that isn’t necessarily so frenetic; not least as a 44-year-old Brock has shown few signs of mellowing any time soon.

Ice Cream Party is available now via Epic Records.