Hail the Cab
Death Cab for Cutie, on tour with Dismemberment Plan, make equally thoughtful, engaging music
There is a lengthy roll of indie-rock bands currently bolstering the reputation of the Northwest music scene, but whether you use buzz or talent as your standard for measure, Seattle's Death Cab for Cutie are leading the charge. Now touring in support of their third full-length, The Photo Album, released last September on Barsuk Records, this quartet of twentysomethings make a rare Nashville appearance at the Exit/In Saturday, sharing a bill with The Dismemberment Plan. (The two bands' current slew of dates has been dubbed the “Death and Dismemberment Tour.”) Although many critics invoke Built to Spill or a so-called post-emo movement when talking of the band, it's ultimately the cleverly evocative lyrics coupled with memorable, refined pop-rock tunes that have Death Cab perched to make an even bigger name for themselves.
The group's affable if somber air comes by way of principal songwriter and singer-guitarist Ben Gibbard, whose literate, first-person works seem more like compacted short stories than poems or songs. He's a master of tapping sense-memory with a line or two, often exploiting the five senses en route to deeper universal emotions and experiences. For example, in the dynamic track “Styrofoam Plates” from The Photo Album, Gibbard begins, “There's a saltwater film on the jar of your ashes; I threw them to sea, but a gust blew them backwards / And the sting in my eyes that you then inflicted was par for the course just as when you were living.” The song, a son's vindictive reflections about his deadbeat dad, builds from its quiet vocals-and-guitar intro to a cathartic climax that marks one of the more aggressive passages on a generally reserved—yet riveting—rock album.
Death Cab gained much of their fame from their previous two LPs and one EP, all of which were recorded in various band members' homes. Only for their latest release did they finally enter a “proper” studio; yet continuity remains, thanks to guitarist Chris Walla, who has produced/recorded/mixed all of the band's material. The result is a signature melody-driven sound that refreshingly envelops the downhearted, sometimes cynical subject matter in warmth and humanity rather than raw, emo-style angst. The band have just released a new three-song disc, the stability ep.
—Doug Brumley
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