A hirsute, shadowy Isaac Brock led Modest Mouse through a breathless set at the Fillmore on Wednesday. Photos by Joe McCabe.

Judging by the ferocity of the crowd’s response to Modest Mouse’s show at the Fillmore last Wednesday, it’s not surprising that singer Isaac Brock had to stop a few times to take a breather. There’s already little enough oxygen at altitude, and the audience seemed to be using up too much of his and the band’s share.

Not too steep a price to pay, really, in exchange for a sold-out house — especially on a tour promoting a new EP (rather than a full album), and without one of your star players — Johnny Marr — to boot.

Brock fronted the five-piece band that included two drummers — longtime Mouse Jeremiah Green and Black Heart Procession’s Joe Plummer (both enmeshed in huge, complex trap sets) — as well as bassist Eric Judy, the multi-talented Tom Peloso on a variety of instruments and Grandaddy’s Jim Fairchild on guitar (in place of Marr, currently on tour with his new band the Cribs).

For just about two hours, the group pummeled the 16-and-over crowd with their loopy brand of quirked indie rock, somewhere between a jam band and the Cure at their most poppy. Through all of it, the crowd maintained a strong energy, almost as if they were in a constant workout, with loads of fist-pumping, jerky dancing, singalong screaming and even a little crowd surfing (including an incident that led Brock to shout some harsh words at someone in the area just in front of him toward the end of the set).

As I mentioned earlier, it wasn’t surprising to hear Brock comment repeatedly about the difficulty of catching his breath, and the constantly passionate thrust in his vocals surely didn’t help his cause. On most songs, like the new “Satellite Skin,” he spat quick poetry in his signature style, followed by bouts of a Joe Cocker-style snarl (with less inflection).

On others, like “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes,” his vocals alternated from an almost monotone mumble to a desperate, bullhorn howl. Or like during “Fire It Up,” when he led the entire place in anthemic chanting with that howl. All of that work led to a much-needed break between songs in mid-set, ostensibly to present the audience with an idea he’d had involving a mile-deep hole from which the band could perform on their next Denver visit. Well, that, and to allow him and the band members to catch their collective breath.

The performance throughout the show was strong and showed off their unique — and extremely successful — penchant for creative stringwork, multi-instrumentation and strong, complex rock rhythms. I love it when two drummers can pull it off playing together, and Green and Plummer played as if they were one — with the benefit of eight limbs. At the same time, Fairchild’s guitar performance came as close as possible to actually replacing Johnny Marr, arguably one of indie rock’s most innovative players. The end result was a tight, flowing Modest Mouse, comfortable in their skin, unflappable.

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Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at DenverThread.com, and his giglist at Gigbot.

Joe McCabe is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb. Check out his website.

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