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Week 40:
Death Cab for Cutie
Artist Introduction
Death Cab for Cutie, DCFC, or Death Cab for short has always been such an interesting band to me. When I first heard of them back in high school, I was an angsty little teenager and if memory serves me right, back in 2006 there were a few kinds of alternative music listening kiddos. There were the kids into hard rock and metal (myself) and then the kids into Pop-Punk, Scene, and Emo. And at the time I strongly disliked the sound of the latter. I felt it was overly dramatic, performative, and insincere. But I do remember Death Cab, and more specifically, their biggest hit “I Will Follow You into the Dark”. When I first heard that song it absolutely floored me. I had never heard such a profoundly dark and sad song about love and death, and for years I thought that Death Cab was a true emo band, not like all the other more popular posers. Years later I realized I had no idea what I was talking about (still don’t but now I write pages of nonsense weekly)! Emo and Pop-punk are so fun and Death Cab is hardly “Emo”. I would consider them an Alternative/Indie rock group with some very heavy emotional themes. All that being said, this should be a unique listen. Musically this band loves to find a pocket, crawl in, and get cozy. Not a lot of dynamic shifts in their music and a lot of slow builds. Lyrics are going to be your friend throughout this listen, or rather your soul crushing enemy.
P.S. I know I’ll get some flack for my order. “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” is by far their most popular song but I still chose to end with it because it’s unique to their typical sound, and it’s such a great song to close on. Have fun!
Vin Cascella
Most Popular
Soul Meets Body
This is a pretty quintessential Death Cab experience. A nice alternative rock song with some cool chord progressions, jangly instrumentals, easy going vocals with thoughtful lyrics, and some light electronic elements. I like the relatively upbeat sound of this one (won’t see that often in this selection) and that it lacks a traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus song structure. Lyrically it's a sweet spiritual love song. Compared to the rest of this selection this song is probably one of the lightest in terms of theme, lyrics, and message.
Title and Registration
I love the opening lyrics of this song. It’s such a dopey concept at first, almost like the beginning of a tight 5 minute comedy bit. So what’s the deal with airplane food!? And then it turns south. It talks about how that seemingly insignificant part of your car can hold so many artifacts and painful memories of the past. The sadness found in this song works on so many levels, both literal and metaphorical. This is a really good example of lead singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard’s ability to weave words about the mundane into something significant. Also I like that the title of the song is never mentioned in the song.
Transatlanticism
The title track off their most popular 2003 album "Transatlanticism" (same album as Title and Registration) revolves around the concepts of being distanced from love both emotionally and literally by living an ocean apart. The entire album is jam packed with hits I wanted to put on this list. “The New Year”, “We Looked Like Giants”, “A Lack of Color” all could have made my list. I think I had “The Sound of Settling” in my personal favorites but I removed it to make room for “What Sarah Said” after Duke recommended it to me. All this being said, the entire album does an excellent job of diving into the concept of distance, both literally and emotionally and the impact it has on people. Now onto the song: Remember when I said this band likes to find a pocket, crawl in and get nice and cozy. Well this song is a prime example. An 8 minute song with two verses and no real chorus, how does that work!? Well you build the first two choruses in the first 3 minutes then proceed to just SLOWLY build the same refrain for almost the entire remainder of the song before ending in crescendo. I learned a new music term during this review “Coda”, pretty much synonymous with outro but in this case it's a coda refrain where they repeat the same line over and over to end the song. I think this song is brilliant, it does so much without actually doing a lot. They let this song breathe and every small change in the continuous riff has so much weight. It’s an entirely unique take on a song structure and it really pays off for me, and apparently their fans as well, as this 8 minute anthem is truly one of their most popular.
Now that we’re through the most popular section I wanted to use a quote from an interview with lead singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard in reference to their rise in popularity. Their 4th album “Transatlanticism” and 5th album “Plans” really put this band on the map. Ben talks about how strange it was for an “indie” act to get to this level of fame and how they are not a traditional radio friendly band. These two albums which have gone Platinum over the years barely got any radio playtime when they were released. Change in the cultural zeitgeist, the early internet, and even the TV show “The OC” really helped spread this band to the world. “If you place this music in front of people. This music that doesn’t really have choruses, and a lot of it is slow, and languid, and sad. If you just give people another option, they might take it.”
Personal Favorites
Black Sun
The “newest” song of this selection from back in 2015 off their 8th studio album “Kintsugi” (the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with gold lacquer). The last time founding member (guitarist and producer) Chris Walla helped produce an album and the first time the band brought in an outside producer to help with the record. Some of their newer music was in consideration but as we all know it’s hard to choose just 9 songs from bands with decades of material (they still put out great music). On to the song: I really love this track. The guitar tone is great and the little music interludes featuring electronic and distortion are so well put together. Lyrically I actually have no idea what this song is about, even after looking into the lyrics, it’s a bit fuzzy for me. It discusses enduring a failure which follows the theme of Kintsugi. But either way, the song just sounds so cool. And they actually break out for a few seconds at 3:15 which leads to my single favorite sound in all of their music as Chris Walla’s guitar solo ends and the distortion clips out at 3:38. Great alternative rocker.
Cath…
There were about 10 songs I could’ve put in this spot but I went with this one for the instrumentals. Drummer Jason McGeer really gets to shine in this one (and later on in “What Sarah Said”). Another nice depressing song about a girl named Cath who marries a man for comfort and necessity instead of love. Lyrically you would think the song is cynical as as the chorus talks of the crowd whispering that the marriage won’t last but there’s a little twist at the end. It’s actually empathy as the singer says that the crowd would probably have done the same, at least he would have done the same. Lyrics like this is why I thought they were an emo band! But yea this is pretty standard Death Cab stuff with some instrumental flair. Shout out to “Crooked Teeth” for just missing the Most Popular and the Personal Favorites section.
I Will Possess Your Heart
Shout out to bassist Nick Harmer for putting down that nasty bassline throughout this track. Remember “Transatlanticism” when Death Cab played almost the same riff for four straight minutes. Well not to be outdone this song plays the same riff for a whole four and a half minutes before any lyrics are sung…and it’s perfect! This song was their lead single for the 6th album “Narrow Stairs”, the lead single! Their not so “indie” major record label (Atlantic Records) really gave them a loose leash on creative freedom and marketing decisions. It’s just such a slow build where every member gets to add a little flair before we finally get into a track that’s creepiness is only rivaled by that of The Police’s “Every Breath You Take”. Ben Gibbard plays the part of the guy who just won’t get the hint who just believes that his object of affection just needs to spend time with him in order to fall in love. The slow burn of the intro of this song is such a wild choice but I think it really drives home the methodical creepiness.
Unique Songs
What Sarah Said
This unique selection is brought to you by Heart Meets Mind Psychology Group! Re-up your anti-depressent script and book yourself a double session of therapy this week, here we go!
What Sarah Said: I’m going to need a “feelings wheel” (look it up) for this one, cause I don’t really know how to put this one into words. It’s brutally sad, but also very loving at the same time. I think this is where Death Cab really hits their stride. They are so damn good at mixing love and sadness together. The kind of sadness that can only come about from truly caring about someone or something and it’s hard to put that into words… Unless you’re Ben Gibbard apparently. Dude is an absolute genius at painting a scene. This song only has two short verses, a gut punch, and closes on a coda refrain… yet in that limited amount of words it is able to paint such a vivid picture. The imagery of everyone sitting with their heads down in the ICU waiting for bad news…woof. The piano melody paired with the building drums and tense pacing of the song really help drive the emotions home. I think the debate of the week will be something along the lines of “What is the saddest song of all time?” and some of Death Cab will definitely make the list. Pearl Jam’s cover of “Last Kiss”, “Nutshell” by AIC, “One More Light” by Linkin Park, and “Tears in Heaven” by Clapton all come to mind. I mentioned in my Eminem review how the ending of “Stan” is one of the few songs that is guaranteed to give me goosebumps. The gut punch lyric of “Love is watching someone die” has a similar effect.
Styrofoam Plates
None of the emotions portrayed in this song relate to my life in the slightest. I love my dad and the rest of my family very much! Okay onto the song: I don’t need a “feelings wheel” for this one. This is an ANGRY song. Amongst all the wordplay and sometimes cryptic lyrics of Death Cab this one is about as straight forward as it gets. The only surprise I found about this song is that it is not personal to anyone in the band but about Ben’s friend’s father. Ben specifically asked for permission to write about it after attending the funeral and says that many of the lyrics were verbatim from what he was told. This is a scathing song and is the absolute antithesis of respecting our dead. I listen to a lot of heavy and angry music and this “soft” rock song can hang with the angriest of them. Just brutal lyrics throughout as it builds into another gut punch lyric, “And just 'cause he's gone, it doesn't change the fact. He was a bastard in life; thus, a bastard in death.” Yikes.
I Will Follow You into the Dark
Why is their MOST popular song by more than 2x in the Unique Section!? I think it would be like putting “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day in the Most Popular section. Yes it is one of their most popular songs but it doesn’t fully reflect the sound of the group. Also this is such a fun and happy song to end on! *sarcasm*
I love this song. It’s the first song I ever heard by Death Cab and it’s still one of my favorites. This is just another example of many, of Gibbard being able to convey emotions and thoughts into words that I would never be able to come up with. You could give me years and I would never be able to come up with these lyrics, my brain just doesn’t work like that. Gibbard wrote this song in 15-20 minutes. Between Styrofoam Plates and this song I think it’s pretty clear that Death Cab are not huge fans of organized religion, however I love their agnostic take on the afterlife. Whether heaven or hell exists, or it’s just an uncertain empty darkness, the souls of loved ones will find each other in the afterlife. Bro, I can’t even type my opinions about this song without sounding like a neanderthal, Ooga Booga. It’s a really pretty sad song that is a near perfect angsty millennial ballad.
Conclusions
Well I hope that was a cheerful experience for you all! I’ve always described Death Cab as the weird kid in high school who would write wild poetry for their creative writing assignments and then creep out the class when they read it aloud. Except they are really fucking good at writing. I know I said this would be a lyric forward review and that is true but I do need to give props to the rest of the band. They really are able to shape and mold a song around a feeling. Using non-traditional song structures, awkward melodies, and sitting in pockets of repetition that feels like an eternity. It all culminates in some very beautiful and unique music. I’m having a really tough time coming up with a score for my own selection. I know I'm biased to my own picks and I normally go high but I’m trying to fit them amongst my other choices. Lyrically DCFC and Kacey Musgraves are by far my favorite picks so far. Sonically they are the lightest “rock” band on my list and, at times, I find their overall sound a little one note. Not necessarily a bad thing. They are great at doing a ton with very little. I’m sitting between a 7.8 and an 8.2 so let’s just cut it right down the middle. 8.0
Cascella Family Reviews
Dad Cascella
Alright then, on to DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE. I know next to nothing about this band other than they are a favorite of Vincents. First thing I did for my dive was watch their Tiny Desk. Sorry, but it didn’t move me. They looked like some college professors I had back in the day, playing folkish, popish music. Hopefully my dive will be change my first reactions.
SOUL MEETS BODY- Ok, so the first thought I had with this songs opening was that they sound like R.E.M. Let’s see where this goes. Basic 4 chord song, with kind of monotonous singing with higher backing vocal. At 2:10 I liked the vocal switch to a higher range and no backing. Better. Musically, not much going on here. After my first listen and reading, I was ready to move on. But this is CascellaMusicClub work, so work I did. I gave it several more listens, and I stand by musically boring. But the lyrics are really good here. Life after death? “I do believe it’s true, that there are roads left in both of our shoes. But if the silence takes you, then I hope it takes me too”. This lyric, and others in the song, save it from being a not so good opening selection.
TITLE AND REGISTRATION- Pretty cool soft guitar opening and throughout with a decent buildup. But the lyrics? Sorry, but didn’t do it for me. Basic lyrics about a lost love pretty much throughout. But it opens with our guy opening a glove compartment and finding old photo’s and reminisces about this lost love. C’mon buddy, it’s still just a fucking glove compartment. NO! it’s not “inaccurately named” and NO! “Everybody doesn’t know it” and NO! There won’t be “an orderly change”!!!!!. Kind of found the whole idea of the lyrics dumb. Such a shame, cause musically it was pretty good. And by the way buddy, where’s the Title and Registration?
TRANSATLANTICISM- Piano chords open an 8 minute song. First two minutes he sings about the creation of the Atlantic Ocean? Ok, I guess. Then we get, what I think, are lyrics kind of (maybe) talking about comparing a relationship hard to keep to the creation of the ocean? “The distance is quite simply much too far to row”. Am I on the right track, cause with repeated piano and spacey background, this song is making me sleepy. Then “I need you so much closer” sung 8 times with a very slight build-up. Meh!! Ok, so now I’m expecting a stronger, fuller buildup. C’mon band, bring it on home!! But nope, instead we get a slight guitar picking and continued slight buildup. Then, Oh No!! Another “I need you so much closer” 4 times. Then some more filler music and then the lyrics, repeated and repeated “So come on”. I get the general drift of this song, and its meaning, but I think it was produced horribly. A stronger buildup, and some orchestra strings may have made for a beautiful song, but to me, it was 8 minutes of filler for an album. For perspective, listen to Rain Song by Zep. With orchestra and powerful buildup, it made a good song into a monster.
BLACK SUN- Fairly good musical opening with melodic guitar. Lyrics interesting, but nothing making me move much. At 3:10 a good, muted louder guitar comes in, which I liked, but it only lasted 20 seconds. Too bad! Lyrics are paradoxes, “hope within despair”, “death upon the vine”, “desert veiled in pavement”, “so fair but so cruel”. As there is probably a deeper meaning to this songs lyrics, I just didn’t get it. Musically, it’s Death Cab, again fine but nothing special.
CATH- Alright now, I liked the opening, simple but cool music. And great first verse, though very sad. Good music continues thru chorus and second verse, with even sadder lyrics. But curiously, while this song tells a sad story of Cath (Based on character from Wuthering Heights) it has uptempo music. Kind of like Elton’s Alice. Poor Cath settled. I liked this one, definitely a fuller sound from the band, with very good lyrics.
I WILL POSSESS YOUR HEART- OMG!! Is that a bass lead opening? I didn’t know this band even had a bassist. Liked the opening. Then, Holy Shit, is this a stalker song? First lyrics suggest so. This is different for Death Cab. I really liked the bass line with mystifying music and piano throughout. Yup.I thought so. Lyrics halfway thru start showing our guy may be slightly dangerous. I do wish though that the band gave us another verse of this guys thoughts instead of the multi-repeated “You gotta spend some time love”. But overall, my favorite so far. Btw, this was the first song in these selections that I immediately wanted to see done live. Corona Capital on YouTube gives us an extended, and real good version.
WHAT SARAH SAID- Soft piano with different, kind of off-beat music to open. Good first verse, again sad, and a definite musical build-up works well in this song. Where has this been? Oddly again, this is a very sad song but with a quicker tempo. But oddly, I’m liking it. This is definitely very different structure for a musical band. Then we get the saddest lyric, “That love is watching someone die”. Very emotional lyric with a slowdown of music. Very well done. Then we get a long ending with soft music and another emotional lyric “so who’s gonna watch you die”. While I wasn’t crazy about the final 2 minutes, it’s still a very good song. Btw, in a rare feat, this song sounds better in studio than when performed live. Live versions just weren’t as emotional.
STYROFOAM PLATES- Wow, if this song is autobiographical, Yikes!! First 2 minutes dramatically paint a graphic and sad picture of childhood. Then we get a decent music buildup, but nothing earth shattering. At 3:30 we get very personal and tough lyrics of how he thought of his father. I liked it, get it all out. And he doesn’t hold back. Wished he had sung it a bit more edgier, I think it would’ve helped. And the ending is about as loud a jam as I’ve heard from this band. Good stuff.
I WILL FOLLOW YOU INTO THE DARK- I think this may be the only selection I think I’ve heard before. Very nice acoustic guitar work to a melancholy, beautiful song. And no doubt, with these selections, this is his best singing. How to describe this song? It’s most definitely a love song. But it questions how death takes shape. And at parts, it’s cynical. Very thought-provoking lyrics to an easy instrumental. And it’s studio version sounds like it was done live in studio, which I really liked. Excellent, simple, touching song to end the listen.
So that’s it for DCFC. I’ve read that the band descriptions include American rock band, Indie rock, Indie Pop, Alternative rock, Emo. While I found little Rock in these selections, I’ll go with Indie Pop with some Rock and Folk thrown in. Musically, there’s not much to talk about. Nobody, for me, in the band stood out with their musicianship. They play uncomplicated, melodic, sensitive, and soft music. They rarely stretch or jam on studio versions (tho I did see some live versions where they branched out a bit). As for vocals, they’re easygoing, sometimes monotonous, very clear, expressive, and sometimes sweet and spiritual. But like the band, he rarely stretches his vocal range. I guess when it comes to music, I like when a band or lead singer sounds different on different tracks. But we don’t get that too much with Death Cab. This bands strength are in the lyrics. They tell vivid tales, mostly of love and death, and a listener can picture the characters in those tales. I absolutely liked the lyrics much more than the music. So overall, I would describe Death Cab For Cutie as somewhat like R.E.M.-Lite. I’ll go with a 6.8
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