Transatlanticism is the fifth studio album by indie rock band Death cab for Cutie, released 2003, not longer after frontman Ben Gibbard released Give Up with The Postal Service. But is it good?
I kind of broke the blog's one rule with this album. The first time I actually heard it was new year's eve, 2019. But since it was about 6pm, that means it was 2020 somewhere in the world, right? But after I heard it for the first time, I didn't think about the album for ages, not until recently anyway, as a result of Gibbard's Live from Home streams during the funnyvirus quarantine. And man, am I glad I rediscovered this album.
The first track is called "The New Year" and announces itself pretty brashly with crashing guitar and drum parts. The lyrics "So this is the new year//And I don't feel any different" set a forlorn mood for the record, and the track even manages to throw in some flat earth appreciation with "I wish the world was flat like the old days//Then I could travel just by folding a map". It's a solid opener for the album.
Track 2 is called "Lightness", and the sonic pallette is anything but. The electronics floating around are depressed, and Gibbard's vocals are largely subdued by the smacking drum rhythm. That being said, the track doesn't amount to a whole lot, and is one of the weker cuts on the record.
Title and registration picks the record right up again tho. The dirty beat with the guitar arpeggio sets the mood perfectly for the storytelling of the track. The instrumental mounts and progresses really nicely, before opening up with this great xylophone melody, as the lyrics open up too. It's just a really well constructed track.
Expo '86 is after this, and it sort of picks up where track 3 left off. It's got a similar style, but then when it gets to the chorus it really opens up. The guitars roar in the background, and Gibbard's lyrics really open up, before a noisey jam-like clatter of drums and phasers overtake the record. It really feels like the album opens up at this point, absolutely a high point for the tracklist.
After that we get "Sound of settling", which kind of feels like it was aiming to be a radio hit, with it's "ba-ba, ba-ba" chorus vocal melody and driving drum beat. Not that it feels out of place, but it's obvious what the intent of the track was. It doesn't stick around too long, so it isnt too offensive.
Tiny Vessels is next, and feels like a return to the album proper, and uses the loud/quiet dynamic probably the most on the record. It opens with, again, a quiet and melancholic atmosphere, before exploding into chaos in the chrous with clattering noise surrounding the listener. The vocal refrain of "she is beautiful, but she don't mean a thing to me" gets kind of tiring but the rest of the track does vary enough to stay interesting.
The title track is next and is the pinacle of the album, pretty much. Clocking in at 7:55, it takes it's time to build. It starts with just piano and background rhythms, and slowly builds up, adding more bits of instruments. Gibbard's isolationism is fully revealed in this song with the line "I thought it less like a lake, and more like a moat". The track builds as Gibbard repeats "I need you so much closer", until what sounds like a huge chorus repeats "So come on, come on, come on" over the fully realised instrumental. It's an absolute triumph of a song.
Passenger seat is much more held back. It's just a piano with background electronics as Gibbard narrates himself being driven home. It's a low key but powerful moment on the album. "Death of an interior decorator" picks the pace up again, with another driving rhythm section. It feels like it might be going for more of a "hit" feel with the vocal refrain of "can you tell me why you have been so-o-o-o-o sad?" overall, the track isn't too bad, maybe besides a slightly repetitive rhythm section.
"We looked like Giants" might be the most dramatic track on the record, narrating young love, in the form of "making contact in the back of my grey subcompact". It's probably the most emo track on the record, from the sonic pallette to the yell-y vocals really characterize it's early 2000's release. It's still a good track, and it's exhilirating at points.
The last track is "Lack of color", and man, what a way to end a record. I don't want to be dramatic but this is up there with some of the most miserable songs I have ever heard. Just listen to it and you'll see what I mean.
So yeh, it's safe to say I enjoyed the album. For the most part it's exceptionally well written and executed, and it's a record i'll hopefully be listening to for years. Definitely worth checking out.
Comments