The story behind
Sharpen Your Teeth is odd yet plausible: a mentally unstable character named Edgar Graham (calling himself
Ugly Casanova) met up with
Modest Mouse, followed them around on tour, recorded some songs, gave the recordings to labels, and then mysteriously disappeared. Songs on tapes discovered by Sub Pop were later recorded by Issac Brock of
Modest Mouse in hopes that Graham would resurface. The first solo record from the singer/guitarist,
Sharpen Your Teeth, cuts into raw indie rock with spells of country and folk, while allowing Brock to explore a varying scope of sounds. He gets help from Brian Deck (whose production credits include
Tortoise and the Sea and Cake), Tim Rutili of
Red Red Meat, and Pall Jenkins of
the Black Heart Procession. Ranging from heartfelt acoustic numbers ("Cat Faces") to outright bizarreness with grating vocals ("Diamonds on the Face of Evil"), there's no doubt that the mood sometimes coincides with the enigmatic Graham. ~ Kenyon Hopkin