Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
Album of the Week
Date - 2005-09-11 00:00:00
For this review, I decided to do something a little different and pretty much just focus on the songs. You know what Death Cab sounds like at this point, which I guess is saying something cause these guys were pretty damn indie not all that long ago. I'm not claiming I knew all about them then, I'm just saying they've come pretty far, for better or for worse. For better I say, people should experience their music.
1. Marching Bands of Manhattan
What a freaking awesome song to start the album with. They bring you in with a church organ and then move into a simple but awesome guitar riff. And hit you with typical lyrics so you can't tell whether or not it's happy or not, and you lean toward not. "And it is true what you said That I live like a hermit in my own head But when the sun shines again I'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in.". "Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound But while you debate half empty or half full It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown." Some subtle piano work here as well completes the full sound.
2. Soul Meets Body
A smooth transition into the first single, and probably my favorite song on the album. Impossibly catchy. Great voice range on this song. The harmony of the guitars and drums and lyrics just really gets inside you. "So brown eyes I hold you near Cause you’re the only song I want to hear A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere."
3. Summer Skin
I didn't like this song much at first, but it sort of grew on me. Just a much more somber song, not nearly as upbeat sounding as the first two. But it's about transition and change, having to shed your 'summer skin' and move on, so I guess it should be somber.
4. Different Names for the Same Thing
I didn't understand this song at all. It starts off with a solitary piano and the vocals sort of echo and sound like they are far away. It makes me picture a very large, almost completely dark room with a piano in it. Then the song slows down and almost restarts, this time with almost a pop-y, upbeat to it, repeating "different names for the same thing" and it fades out with some sort of flighty instrument, like a xylophone.
5. I Will Follow You into the Dark
A slower, softer song, pretty much just the vocals accompanied by a soft acoustic guitar. Love and death. "If there's no one beside you When your soul embarks Then I'll follow you into the dark" It's a good song, but not particularly one you would really choose to listen to on repeat.
6. Your Heart Is an Empty Room
Another catchy song, driven by guitar/bass with a little piano mixed in. Great lyrics in this one. "Home's face: how it ages when you're away" is something that pretty much everyone 18 and older has experienced at this point. The song is really about how losing something or someone you love is sad, but it also brings new and maybe better possibilities. "And you shed not a single tear for the things that you didn't need 'Cause you knew you were finally free."
7. Someday You Will Be Loved
If you read elscorcho (and I imagine you must if you are reading this), you know that this song created a little bit of e-controversy. I'm guessing Niv may write a bit about it as a result, so I won't really say much about it, except to say that I definitely agree with everything written on elscorcho.
8. Crooked Teeth
Somehow, they manage to turn this song into a happy-sounding song. But yeah, it's not. Moral of the story: a relationship where there's no love sucks by definition. "And you can't find nothing at all, If there was nothing there all along." Catchy chorus though, nice vocal harmonies.
9. What Sarah Said
This song is just piercing. Heavy piano use. The first three minutes of the song talk about sitting in a hospital waiting room as a family member/friend is on the verge of dying. And then "But I'm thinking of what Sarah said that 'Love is watching someone die'... So who's going to watch you die?" and the last three minutes devolve slowly back to quietness as the music slowly fades away. Why do they have to sing about death so much?
10. Brothers on a Hotel Bed
I really liked this song, probably my third favorite on the album, even though it's probably not one of the stronger songs on the album. I just love the way the piano is layered with the simple drum beats. I really have a soft spot for bands that use piano, it's pretty much the only reason I like Coldplay at all, I think.
11. Stable Song
Eh, this is just a sleepy, relaxing song. For me, it was probably the weakest song on the album, I kind of wish it had ended a bit more strongly, but so be it.
This album has been heavily played on my computer ever since I got it. I kind of think there's a pretty considerable dropoff in quality from the better songs to the other songs, and that prevents me from absolutely falling in love with it. I honestly haven't listened to Transatlanticism (their 2003 effort) enough to accurately compare the two. Rolling Stone liked Transatlanticism better, so you can take that for whatever worth you assign to Rolling Stone. The point is, this is a really good cd, it's not utterly amazing, but a few of the songs are.
The verdict: 7.5/10
1. Marching Bands of Manhattan
What a freaking awesome song to start the album with. They bring you in with a church organ and then move into a simple but awesome guitar riff. And hit you with typical lyrics so you can't tell whether or not it's happy or not, and you lean toward not. "And it is true what you said That I live like a hermit in my own head But when the sun shines again I'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in.". "Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound But while you debate half empty or half full It slowly rises, your love is gonna drown." Some subtle piano work here as well completes the full sound.
2. Soul Meets Body
A smooth transition into the first single, and probably my favorite song on the album. Impossibly catchy. Great voice range on this song. The harmony of the guitars and drums and lyrics just really gets inside you. "So brown eyes I hold you near Cause you’re the only song I want to hear A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere."
3. Summer Skin
I didn't like this song much at first, but it sort of grew on me. Just a much more somber song, not nearly as upbeat sounding as the first two. But it's about transition and change, having to shed your 'summer skin' and move on, so I guess it should be somber.
4. Different Names for the Same Thing
I didn't understand this song at all. It starts off with a solitary piano and the vocals sort of echo and sound like they are far away. It makes me picture a very large, almost completely dark room with a piano in it. Then the song slows down and almost restarts, this time with almost a pop-y, upbeat to it, repeating "different names for the same thing" and it fades out with some sort of flighty instrument, like a xylophone.
5. I Will Follow You into the Dark
A slower, softer song, pretty much just the vocals accompanied by a soft acoustic guitar. Love and death. "If there's no one beside you When your soul embarks Then I'll follow you into the dark" It's a good song, but not particularly one you would really choose to listen to on repeat.
6. Your Heart Is an Empty Room
Another catchy song, driven by guitar/bass with a little piano mixed in. Great lyrics in this one. "Home's face: how it ages when you're away" is something that pretty much everyone 18 and older has experienced at this point. The song is really about how losing something or someone you love is sad, but it also brings new and maybe better possibilities. "And you shed not a single tear for the things that you didn't need 'Cause you knew you were finally free."
7. Someday You Will Be Loved
If you read elscorcho (and I imagine you must if you are reading this), you know that this song created a little bit of e-controversy. I'm guessing Niv may write a bit about it as a result, so I won't really say much about it, except to say that I definitely agree with everything written on elscorcho.
8. Crooked Teeth
Somehow, they manage to turn this song into a happy-sounding song. But yeah, it's not. Moral of the story: a relationship where there's no love sucks by definition. "And you can't find nothing at all, If there was nothing there all along." Catchy chorus though, nice vocal harmonies.
9. What Sarah Said
This song is just piercing. Heavy piano use. The first three minutes of the song talk about sitting in a hospital waiting room as a family member/friend is on the verge of dying. And then "But I'm thinking of what Sarah said that 'Love is watching someone die'... So who's going to watch you die?" and the last three minutes devolve slowly back to quietness as the music slowly fades away. Why do they have to sing about death so much?
10. Brothers on a Hotel Bed
I really liked this song, probably my third favorite on the album, even though it's probably not one of the stronger songs on the album. I just love the way the piano is layered with the simple drum beats. I really have a soft spot for bands that use piano, it's pretty much the only reason I like Coldplay at all, I think.
11. Stable Song
Eh, this is just a sleepy, relaxing song. For me, it was probably the weakest song on the album, I kind of wish it had ended a bit more strongly, but so be it.
This album has been heavily played on my computer ever since I got it. I kind of think there's a pretty considerable dropoff in quality from the better songs to the other songs, and that prevents me from absolutely falling in love with it. I honestly haven't listened to Transatlanticism (their 2003 effort) enough to accurately compare the two. Rolling Stone liked Transatlanticism better, so you can take that for whatever worth you assign to Rolling Stone. The point is, this is a really good cd, it's not utterly amazing, but a few of the songs are.
The verdict: 7.5/10
First note: I'm sorry for this review being so delayed. Shit happens, I guess.
Second note: I am not a fan of Death Cab for Cutie, in that I haven't listened to anything by them other than "The Sound of Settling" before jumping in to this album (Not counting the Postal Service). Therefore, I can't compare anything on this album with their previous work on indie labels.
In the same way that Beck's Guero and pretty much every Red Hot Chili Peppers album are flat-out summer albums, Death Cab for Cutie's major label debut, Plans is an autumn disc. Many of the songs talk about the fall and winter seasons and use the end of summer as basically a code word for the end of life or love. A better writer would create a graceful metaphor involving leaves and crap right now, but I am not that author. Story of my life: I see all the angles, but my execution is crap. But I digress!
Plans leaves you feeling like crap. It's a depressing album, there's no other way to put it. However, a few of the tracks shine in all their folk-emo glory, and it was not hard for me to understand why Seth Cohen and many real people list Death Cab as one of their favorite bands. Let's go through it track by track, shall we?
Thad pushed me to listen to this album and also pushed for it to be the AOTW. He was familiar with the disc and predicted I would like tracks one and two and then hate everything until track eleven. I give you this information for posterity's sake.
Track one is a brilliant beginning, for sure. The first lines to "Marching Bands of Manhattan" are just freaking great:
Death Cab tries to parlay this success with another poppy-sounding song, "Soul Meets Body." This song is the first single off of Plans, and it is not quite as good as "Marching Bands of Manhattan" but does enough to be listenable. It kind of trails off in the middle for no good reason, killing the momentum of the song. Lyrically, it is quite depressing. This will be a theme going forward.
I think tracks 3 and 4, "Summer Skin" and "Different Names for the Same Thing" respectively, are kind of unfinished songs. "Summer Skin" never really does anything - it is verse verse verse and then done. "Different Names" always seemed kind of gimmicky to me - the song starts slow, then it stops, then it starts again fast... it's the same thing, only with a different name, if you will. Whatever, it's lame.
Track 5 is a straight-ahead folk song. Just a man and his guitar and a whole lot of anxious breathing. The song itself, "I Will Follow You into the Dark," is pretty damn pretty, and thus quite solid. This song makes me question what seperates good singer-songwriter stuff from bad singer-songwriter stuff - I like this song, but the majority of songs in this genre really rub me the wrong way. I really can't find what seperates this song from the others, but I'm not too interested in analyzing it too far.
Tracks 6, 7, and 8 are the trifecta of dark, depressing songs on this album. They push the overall feeling of the album far towards Minnesota even though tracks 6 and 8 have a definite California sound (Soundgarden reference in Death Cab review: +10 points). Track 6 is entitled "Your Heart is an Empty Room," and it is just really, really depressing, despite the slight Fountains of Wayne feel. The lyrics are incredibly dark, and if you listen too closely you will probably want to jump out the nearest window. The emotional response it evokes makes it a good song, I suppose, but after 3 or 4 listens you might find yourself skipping it for mental stability reasons.
Thankfully, Death Cab decided to follow up "Your Heart is an Empty Room" with the darkest song on the album, and in my opinion by far the best song on Plans, "Someday You Will Be Loved." Zach wrote about this song over on niv.elscorcho.org and really covered this song for me. The music is brilliant - it adds to the tension and despair that the singer is clearly feeling, and also it is pretty rocking. Zach summed it up pretty well, so I'll move on to track 8, "Crooked Teeth."
"Crooked Teeth" takes the Fountains of Wayne qualities from "Your Heart is an Empty Room" and runs with it. I think this song might be co-written by the Fountains or something. Listen to the song once, you will know of what I speak. The lyrics are predictably dark: "And you can't find nothing at all, / If there was nothing there all along." goes the chorus, for example. Overall, this is a strong song, and sandwiching track 7 with the two of the brighter songs on the album was a pretty slick move.
Plans closes out really weakly with the Ben Folds-esque "What Sarah Said" going on about 3 minutes longer than it should have, "Brothers on a Hotel Bed" making approximately no sense to me at all, and "Stable Song" being a weak attempt at redemption after the depressing fare pushed on the listener for the first 10 tracks. After the stretch from 5-8 being so strong, it seems that Death Cab left nothing interesting for the home stretch.
Overall, this was a strong album. I wanted to hate it, and I came away from the first two listens with melodies trapped in my head, eating my brain from the inside out. A few more listens and I started hating my life, because this album is so incredibly depressing. Plans really should come packaged with something like Guero, just to offset all the sadness. In the end, if you are into this whole emo, depressing scene, Death Cab should be right in your wheelhouse. If you aren't, just hit up some of the better songs and before you know it you might get into it.
Score: 7/10
Second note: I am not a fan of Death Cab for Cutie, in that I haven't listened to anything by them other than "The Sound of Settling" before jumping in to this album (Not counting the Postal Service). Therefore, I can't compare anything on this album with their previous work on indie labels.
In the same way that Beck's Guero and pretty much every Red Hot Chili Peppers album are flat-out summer albums, Death Cab for Cutie's major label debut, Plans is an autumn disc. Many of the songs talk about the fall and winter seasons and use the end of summer as basically a code word for the end of life or love. A better writer would create a graceful metaphor involving leaves and crap right now, but I am not that author. Story of my life: I see all the angles, but my execution is crap. But I digress!
Plans leaves you feeling like crap. It's a depressing album, there's no other way to put it. However, a few of the tracks shine in all their folk-emo glory, and it was not hard for me to understand why Seth Cohen and many real people list Death Cab as one of their favorite bands. Let's go through it track by track, shall we?
Thad pushed me to listen to this album and also pushed for it to be the AOTW. He was familiar with the disc and predicted I would like tracks one and two and then hate everything until track eleven. I give you this information for posterity's sake.
Track one is a brilliant beginning, for sure. The first lines to "Marching Bands of Manhattan" are just freaking great:
If I could open my armsThis is the kind of over the top, wonderful lyricism that I have been missing all my life... or at least since sophomore year. Thank you, Death Cab. The music in track one does not fail to deliver either. It's upbeat and lush and somehow makes you feel the strong ache in your heart that could cause words like the ones above to fly out of your mouth with this unique, wonderful cadence that burrows into the mind of listeners and refuses to leave. In summation, "Marching Bands of Manhattan" is a great, great song.
And span the length of the isle of Manhattan,
I'd bring it to where you are
Making a lake of the East River and Hudson
And if I could open my mouth
Wide enough for a marching band to march out of
They would make your name sing
And bend through alleys and bounce off other buildings.
Death Cab tries to parlay this success with another poppy-sounding song, "Soul Meets Body." This song is the first single off of Plans, and it is not quite as good as "Marching Bands of Manhattan" but does enough to be listenable. It kind of trails off in the middle for no good reason, killing the momentum of the song. Lyrically, it is quite depressing. This will be a theme going forward.
I think tracks 3 and 4, "Summer Skin" and "Different Names for the Same Thing" respectively, are kind of unfinished songs. "Summer Skin" never really does anything - it is verse verse verse and then done. "Different Names" always seemed kind of gimmicky to me - the song starts slow, then it stops, then it starts again fast... it's the same thing, only with a different name, if you will. Whatever, it's lame.
Track 5 is a straight-ahead folk song. Just a man and his guitar and a whole lot of anxious breathing. The song itself, "I Will Follow You into the Dark," is pretty damn pretty, and thus quite solid. This song makes me question what seperates good singer-songwriter stuff from bad singer-songwriter stuff - I like this song, but the majority of songs in this genre really rub me the wrong way. I really can't find what seperates this song from the others, but I'm not too interested in analyzing it too far.
Tracks 6, 7, and 8 are the trifecta of dark, depressing songs on this album. They push the overall feeling of the album far towards Minnesota even though tracks 6 and 8 have a definite California sound (Soundgarden reference in Death Cab review: +10 points). Track 6 is entitled "Your Heart is an Empty Room," and it is just really, really depressing, despite the slight Fountains of Wayne feel. The lyrics are incredibly dark, and if you listen too closely you will probably want to jump out the nearest window. The emotional response it evokes makes it a good song, I suppose, but after 3 or 4 listens you might find yourself skipping it for mental stability reasons.
Thankfully, Death Cab decided to follow up "Your Heart is an Empty Room" with the darkest song on the album, and in my opinion by far the best song on Plans, "Someday You Will Be Loved." Zach wrote about this song over on niv.elscorcho.org and really covered this song for me. The music is brilliant - it adds to the tension and despair that the singer is clearly feeling, and also it is pretty rocking. Zach summed it up pretty well, so I'll move on to track 8, "Crooked Teeth."
"Crooked Teeth" takes the Fountains of Wayne qualities from "Your Heart is an Empty Room" and runs with it. I think this song might be co-written by the Fountains or something. Listen to the song once, you will know of what I speak. The lyrics are predictably dark: "And you can't find nothing at all, / If there was nothing there all along." goes the chorus, for example. Overall, this is a strong song, and sandwiching track 7 with the two of the brighter songs on the album was a pretty slick move.
Plans closes out really weakly with the Ben Folds-esque "What Sarah Said" going on about 3 minutes longer than it should have, "Brothers on a Hotel Bed" making approximately no sense to me at all, and "Stable Song" being a weak attempt at redemption after the depressing fare pushed on the listener for the first 10 tracks. After the stretch from 5-8 being so strong, it seems that Death Cab left nothing interesting for the home stretch.
Overall, this was a strong album. I wanted to hate it, and I came away from the first two listens with melodies trapped in my head, eating my brain from the inside out. A few more listens and I started hating my life, because this album is so incredibly depressing. Plans really should come packaged with something like Guero, just to offset all the sadness. In the end, if you are into this whole emo, depressing scene, Death Cab should be right in your wheelhouse. If you aren't, just hit up some of the better songs and before you know it you might get into it.
Score: 7/10