Death Cab For Cutie - Live
DCFC blew into town Monday and played at Thanksgiving Point in a beautiful outdoor setting under skies that cleared just in time for the show.
The band (which, let’s face it, has the worst name since Toad the Wet Sprocket) is touring in support of their new album, Narrow Stairs, and did an interview with the SL Tribune, found here. After reading the interview, I found this quote describing the new album a bit annoying:
“I really feel we made a mess,” said guitarist Chris Walla, with glee in his voice. “It’s kind of bloody. It’s really freaking weird. It doesn’t feel like more of the same. You have to beat the s— out of a guitar to make it sound good.”
Well that may very well be, Chris, but it always makes me wonder when bands describe their new material as a complete departure from the old. What are fans supposed to make of this? “We don’t care if you liked our previous sound, we’re doing something completely different—-so go screw yourselves!” That’s at least one possible interpretation of the dumb-ass things that bands sometimes say in describing a new record. Wouldn’t it be wiser to make some attempt to bring the fans with you on your musical journey?
Thankfully, however, the new album is neither a bloody mess nor freaking weird. It is somewhat different from previous efforts, but the difference is mainly due to a new emphasis on electric guitar and bass versus the keyboard and acoustic guitar driven songs from previous albums. This album may also require a little more patience on the part of listeners (the first single clocks in at almost nine minutes) but it is nonetheless very recognizable as DCFC, though they seem to be in an even more morose mood than usual (and this is a band that already holds the American record for consecutive pop songs about death). After a few listens, though, I think most fans will find the new album to be on par with Transatlanticism and Plans, both of which are very good albums (I especially like Plans). Following up a hit album is always tricky, and some of the “freaking weird” rhetoric may be designed to head off comparisons.
In any event, DCFC comes into this tour encumbered with the portentious fact that Narrow Stairs is apparently now the top selling album in the country. And yet, somehow the band was able to live up to expectations. Frontman Ben Gibbard has the reputation of a rock and roll poet, writing songs (contrary to most songwriters) lyrics first, then crafting the music around the words, which are rarely organized in any format recognizable as a traditional pop song. To me, this has always given many of his songs a strange, anticlimactic feel, as if they have no definable chorus.
A perfect example is “What Sarah Said” from Plans:
Another great example is “Marching Bands of Manhattan” from Plans:
As you can see, DCFC manages to turn its quirkiness into a virtue: They don’t sound like anyone else and, in today’s music market, that’s never a bad thing. Before the final song of the show, Ben mentioned that they hadn’t played this particular song in some time, and they were going to now play it the way it used to be played when the band appeared at Kilby Court years ago. Kilby Court!!! Thinking about this band in it’s current glory appearing at the tiny, godforsaken Kilby Court is mindboggling now, but it’s good to be reminded that all bands pretty much start out playing the same dives, and it’s good to see that some do grow up and move on to big, beautiful venues with actual sound systems and intoxicatingly cool light displays. All in all, this was a very good show by a band that continues to make some rather unexpectedly good music.
Awesome. I love the new album, and it’s good to hear the live show is working.
Comment by Supergenius — May 29, 2008 @ 6:06 pm
So I was talking to this guy this one time and somehow the band Styx comes up. He says it’s his second-favorite band, all time. So, of course, I have to ask what’s first. Given that Styx is #2, I’m expecting him to say Led Zeppelin, Rush, maybe Journey or Foreigner or something.
He says, “Death Cab for Cutie.”
Comment by Eric Russell — May 29, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
Death Cab have some songs that I really love and will listen to on repeat. But I can never do an entire album. It’s the guy’s cutesy voice, drives me crazy.
One of my favorite songs by them is “Styrofoam Plates,” which should be really angry and bitter, but because he just sounds so cutesy it doesn’t quite work out that way. I love it anyway, I just wonder what another band or singer could do with it. I’d love to hear it covered by someone who could really make it sound angry.
How popular are Death Cab now? Are they getting regular radio airplay?
Comment by Susan M — May 29, 2008 @ 7:16 pm
Susan, DCFC has had a song on the radio that has been getting non-stop play for the past year or so. It’s being treated like it’s a classic love-ballad. The song is “I’ll follow you into the dark,” which is essentially a song about a suicide pact.
There is something jarring about all these songs about death being sung by a guy in a high boyish tenor voice, but I have to say that in general, I really like Ben’s voice.
I have already heard the short version of the first single from the new album on the radio.
Eric: Hmmmm, Styx and Death Cab. Yeah, it sort of makes sense in a Dante’s Inferno sort of way.
Comment by MCQ — May 29, 2008 @ 8:36 pm
Totally off topic, but is there something wrong with Kultureblog’s RSS feed? I haven’t had a new post show up since 5/16, and even if I re-subscribe, it stil shows no posts newer than the 16th.
Comment by jjohnsen — May 29, 2008 @ 10:09 pm
Eric,
Hahahaha!
Btw, my 18 year old goth daughter (except they dont have those any more, do they?), adores dcfc. It seems like the generational diconnect isn’t nearly do dtrong this time around. Or, am I just a freak? Maybe becasue music hasn’t really changed much in the last 20 years??
~
Comment by Thomas Parkin — May 29, 2008 @ 11:17 pm
jjohnson,
Try:
http://www.kulturblog.com/feed/atom/
Ben Gibbard is brilliant. Maybe not Shakespeare, but his lyrics are stunning for their poetry-of-the-normal. My favourite:
Comment by Ronan — May 30, 2008 @ 6:15 am
Thomas, music hasn’t changed in the last 20 years. (And goth is more popular now than when I was listening to Bauhaus and wearing all black.)
That is a neat line, Ronan.
I like his Postal Service stuff more than Death Cab.
Comment by Susan M — May 30, 2008 @ 7:30 am
Thanks Ronan, that worked.
Comment by jjohnsen — May 30, 2008 @ 7:44 am
Ugh. What is with the sudden interest in progrock epics and extended jams from indie-pop bands? First the Decemberists, now Death Cab. I like my indie-pop songs to be a concise four-minutes or less, thankyouverymuch.
Comment by BTD Greg — May 30, 2008 @ 10:14 am
I love the progrock epics. In general, more than I like the concise 4-minute songs.
Comment by Susan M — May 30, 2008 @ 10:35 am
I think I have about a three minute attention span. I would need Ritalin to listen to a 9 minute rock song.
Comment by Allison — May 30, 2008 @ 10:42 am
IMO all songs, regardless of whether it’s rock, classical, indie-pop, country (sorry for swearing), should be under 4 minutes. Anything over 4 minutes and I tune out.
Comment by Abby — May 30, 2008 @ 10:51 am
I used to be the same way. Must be an acquired taste. Songs that change and go somewhere different—I love that.
Comment by Susan M — May 30, 2008 @ 11:26 am
Abby,
A classical composer can barely breathe in 4 minutes. And John Coltrane used to do 30-minute sets as his closing set. (For that matter, Miles recorded a couple albums that may have been hours of a single song that then got edited down into two 20-minute songs). Plus the uncut In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. If an artist is good enough and has enough ideas, he or she certainly shouldn’t be constrained by a four-minute timer. (And if he or she has put together a worthless >4 minutes, I’ll delete the song.)
Comment by Sam B. — May 30, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
Sam, you’ve got me on the classical. However, even by intermission at the Symphony, I’m done listening. Like I said, it is just MO, because lyrics get sung over and over again. I’ve been to a DMB concert where they kept playing and playing - jamming, which got old. I’m not suggesting an artist isn’t good if they can’t contain it to 4 minutes and vice versa, it’s just an attention span issue.
Comment by Abby — May 30, 2008 @ 1:01 pm
I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the soundtrack in Hell is nothing but the uncut In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida on repeat.
Comment by BTD Greg — May 30, 2008 @ 1:46 pm
BTD Greg,
Sorry, we already know that soundtrack will be New Age.
Comment by Sam B. — May 30, 2008 @ 3:06 pm
Actually, I take that back. It’s the interminable Indian concert I went to a few years back (the first song went like 45 minutes with no form that I could understand–no building, no diminishing. There were a couple times where it sounded, to my Western ears, like it was going to end . . . and then it didn’t. My wife and I actually snuck out; for all I know, that same song is still being played today).
Comment by Sam B. — May 30, 2008 @ 3:09 pm
The long form rock song has a formidable history, and even DCFC has done it before. Some of these are self-indulgent, to say the least, but I think they’re tolerable, if they happen to be good. DCFC, in that respect, has shown some excellent judgment in that their long songs tend to be good ones, rather than just extended, purposeless jams (Looking at you Dave Mathews).
I think we should continue what Ronan started and give our favorite Ben Gibbard lines. If you don’t like Ben and want to use a different, equally poetic songwriter, go ahead, but be prepared to defend your choice.
Here’s mine:
And it came to me then that every plan is a tiny prayer to father time
As I stared at my shoes in the ICU that reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breath as I said to myself that I’d already taken too much today
As each descending peak of the LCD took you a little farther away from me
Comment by MCQ — May 30, 2008 @ 5:12 pm
[...] See my review of this show, here. [...]
Pingback by Death Cab For Cutie - Live « MCQESQ — May 30, 2008 @ 5:49 pm
“I know you’re wise beyond the years, but do you ever get the fear that the perfect verse is just a lie you tell yourself to help you get by?”
(The Postal Service)
Comment by Abby — May 31, 2008 @ 12:22 pm
extended, purposeless jams
I could swear you’re a bunch of heretics at times.
One of the best songs ever written:
Dave Matthews - #41
Best part about it? The singing is done within the first four minutes.
Why won’t you ever be glad?
It melts into wonder
I came in praying for you
Why won’t you run in to rain and play?
Let the tears splash all over you
Comment by Susan M — May 31, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
Susan, I’m a Dave Mathews fan, but having been to one of their concerts, I can tell you that they have no concept of the meaning of the term “enough is enough.”
Comment by MCQ — May 31, 2008 @ 10:10 pm
[...] [...]
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[...] Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs [...]
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