Plans — Death Cab for Cutie
Atlantic
2005
Rating:


By the time Death Cab for Cutie finally broke through to the mainstream with 2003's "Transatlanticism" and the help of "The O.C.," the hipster community had already turned its back on the band, declaring Death Cab's to have peaked with 2001's "The Photo Album" before looking down on lead singer-songwriter Ben Gibbard's Johnny-come-lately admirers. Now that the indie stalwarts are indie no more, having jumped from Barsuk to Atlantic, Death Cab is likely to be even more reviled by the hipper-than-thou.

That's there loss. "Plans," the latest from Death Cab, finds the band crafting perfect pop melodies just like they always have. Chris Walla's production is a bit slicker and the guitars aren't as messy, but there's no sign that Death Cab has sold out. If anything, Gibbard sounds even more forlorn with lovesickness.

On opener "Marching Bands of Manhattan," Gibbard sings that "If I could my open my arms and span the length of the isle of Manhattan / I'd bring it to where you are," a beautiful sentiment made more despairing by the final chorus — "Sorrow drips into you heart through a pinhole… / …your love is gonna drown." The song builds to the same kind of intensity as "The New Year," and it's the first indication that Death Cab hasn't lost anything in the leap across to Atlantic.

Death Cab balances grandiosity with simplicity with a more delicate hand than they sometimes do. "Different Names for the Same Thing" is what The Postal Service could be with a budget, its electronic melody soaring into the heavens of M83. "Crooked Teeth" is radio-ready in the hugeness of its chorus of "And you can't find nothin' at all if there was nothin' there all along." Then there's centerpiece "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," a Bright Eyes-influenced acoustic number in which Gibbard promises to follow a lover after she dies.

Given the band's name it shouldn't be surprising, but death dominates "Plans" almost as much as love. Realizing that the two are rarely mutually exclusive, the album hits its apex with "What Sarah Said." The lyrics largely describe one of the "nervous pacers" in an ICU waiting room until, with its final lines, Gibbard hits the listener with the powerful emotional punch of "I'm thinking of what Sarah said: / That ‘love is watching someone die.' / So who's gonna watch you die?" The arpeggios of the piano start to pound at that moment and drummer Jason McGerr attacks his Paiste cymbals and Ludwig snare with such vigor it sounds like riding a train into heaven.

The beauty of Death Cab can sometimes truly hurt. It's good to see that some things will always stay the same.

Posted Monday, September 19, 2005

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