This is most certainly true on Transatlanticism‘s “Death of an Interior Decorator”. I like that sound, and so do many others, though some critics have said that the lyrics border on ridiculous. Add to that the lush-but-never-overproduced pop sound brought by the rest of the band and you’ve got serious pop honesty. The combination of straight-forward storytelling and Gibbard’s boyish and wistful voice telling that story makes for a powerful juxtaposition. “You’re a disgrace to the concept of family / The priest won’t divulge that fact in his homily / And I’ll stand up and scream if the mourning remain quiet / You can deck out a lie in a suit but I won’t buy it”. There, Gibbard rages about the father figure that’s being honored at his funeral even though he was jerk. 2001’s The Photo Album was filled with these snapshots, most notably on the deadbeat dad rant, “Styrofoam Plates”. They tell stories and describe in blunt detail the activities people undertake every day of their lives.
“The glove compartment isn’t accurately named and everybody knows it / So I’m proposing a swift orderly change / ‘Cause behind its door there’s nothing to keep my fingers warm / And all I find are souvenirs from better times”.ĭeath Cab’s lyrics have been cause for both praise and criticism, mainly because of their simplicity. The emphasis is clearly on Gibbard’s stark lyrics, especially on “Title and Registration”, during which he gives us his theory on the misnomer of the glove compartment. The next two tracks feature spare instrumentation, with only a beat and some ambient bass lines on “Lightness”, and a drum machine and plucked guitar melody on “Title and Registration”. With jangling guitars and an energetic rhythm that brings to mind travel on open roads, Gibbard captures that sense of nostalgia perfectly in lines like, “I wish the world was flat like the old days / Then I could travel just by folding a map / No more airplanes, or speed trains, or freeways”. Gibbard sings about not having a resolution for this year and not having problems with easy solutions.
Starting out with one of the album’s strongest tracks, “The New Year”, the band reminisces about simpler times with an endearing narrative.
Do I even need to say how exciting that is? Transatlanticism, their fourth full-length of new material, is the high point of their short career, a high point that could potentially keep rising. With singer Ben Gibbard now in his mid-20s, and the rest of the band pushing 30, the men of Death Cab have had a few years to refine and develop their quirky-but-heartfelt indie-pop. However, unlike many bands who experience early success and then burn out by their second or third release, some musicians get considerably better at their craft as they get older. something about airplanes, We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes, and The Photo Album received so much hype and praise that the pressure for this new album must have been damn near smothering. Since the band’s inception in the late ’90s, Death Cab have produced three of the most critically acclaimed indie albums in recent history. The first track is even called “The New Year”.
This album, which hits stores on the 7th of October, encompasses all the beauty and change that goes along with the death and birth of each season. Listening to Death Cab for Cutie‘s newest album, Transatlanticism, somehow evokes the sensations of all the seasons: the icy stillness of winter, the frostiness of early spring mornings, summer’s heavy night air, and the first smell of cold.
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