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Transatlanticism
Death Cab For Cutie
Barsuk Records, 2003
REVIEW BY: Jason Warburg
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 05/04/2004
As I alluded to recently under
less happy circumstances, one of
the main side benefits of this gig is the opportunity to be
introduced to new music. When the Daily Vault's very own Sean
McCarthy put Death Cab For Cutie's
Transatlanticism near the peak of
his 2003 Top Ten, I paid attention.
(Although it did take me awhile to get around to making the
purchase... so much music, so little time.)
After a few listens, there's no longer any puzzle as to why this
disc made any number of Top Ten lists this January. It's a moody,
airy, brilliant compendium of artfully crafted songs whose quality
actually lives up to their pretensions.
For the record, Death Cab For Cutie (DCFC to fans) is anchored
by singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard and guitarist/producer Christopher
Walla, with longtime cohort Nicholas Harmer on bass and new guy
Jason McGerr on the drums. Gibbard and Walla also contribute
keyboards and textures that fill out the atmospherics of many of
these tracks.
The music itself is a mix of ethereal ballads sung with genuine
sadness and powerful yet sleepy-eyed guitars-and-harmonies rock.
The songs are a circular, yearning series of vignettes, little
moments that blur into each other like an Impressionist painting.
More sophisticated than Jimmy Eat World and wittier than Coldplay,
with
Tranatlanticism Death Cab For Cutie have created a true
album, themed and flowing and progressive in its moods and
expressiveness.
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