Indie rock icons Modest Mouse are up to… something, having teased a mysterious ice cream-themed countdown clock on a new website.

If there’s two things that Modest Mouse are good at, it’s making great music and being mysterious.

Earlier this year, they confused fans by sending some of them cryptic puzzle pieces in the mail. As it turned out, this was all leading up to the release of their first new material since 2015, with ‘Poison The Well’ and ‘I’m Still Here’ appearing on a Record Store Day single.

However, in September, things took a rather gruesome turn, with the band sharing pictures of dead mice onto their Instagram account, leading fans to think that the group may have actually broken up.

Now, the band have embarked on another (far less morbid) mystery, with ice cream serving as the main theme this time around.

Check out ‘I’m Still Here’ by Modest Mouse:

YouTube VideoPlay

So what’s going on? Well, it all kicked off when the band took to the official Modest Mouse subreddit to share a Google Maps link with the title “11.15.19”.

When clicked, the link takes us through to a location titled “Ice Cream Party” in the city of Portland, Oregon. However, the location’s entry also features another link titled “mmicecreamparty“, which leads fans through to a Sony-sponsored website wth a countdown clock that is set to end at 4pm on Friday afternoon in Australia.

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What does this all mean? Well, that’s where folks have been drawing a blank. Considering that Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock built the Ice Cream Party studio (located in Portland) for the recording of the band’s latest album, speculation had begun that this is the lead-up to the release of a new record.

One fan on Reddit who called the number of the ice cream store from Google Maps has reported that “all they’re telling the public is that there is a new icecream sandwich that has something to do with Modest Mouse.”

Even more interesting though, is the fact that another fan did some digging to discover that the photo that shows up for the Google Maps address was added by a person named Sally Yang just last month.

As it so turns out, LinkedIn reveals that a person named Sally Yang also happens to work at “Marketing & Strategic Marketing” for Epic records, the band’s record label.

Needless to say, we’ll know more once the countdown ends on Friday, but at this stage, it’s looking like the four-and-a-half year wait for a new Modest Mouse album is almost over.

Check out ‘Poison The Well’ by Modest Mouse:

YouTube VideoPlay

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