Death Cab For Cutie- Kintsugi
The introduction to the album No Room In The Frame reminds me of Brixby Canyon Bridge which was one of my favorite openings after they moved into the more atmospheric second half of their career. Lyrically this is obviously about Zooey Deschanel who I’m happy to blame for their easily ignorable 2011 release which marked the first strike of Ben Gibbard‘s illustrious indie career.
The pace of the first couple of tracks is foreboding, this could easily turn into another Codes and Keys and if that is the case I don’t think anyone would argue that it’s time to call it a day.
The Ghosts of Beverley Drive is the track the fans have been most excited about. This track spans their career, musically taking elements from I Will Posess Your Heart and Sound of Settling where lyrically it could have been on We Have The Facts or Transatlanticism. It’s good, let’s hope this is a sign of things to come…
OK, Little Wanderer isn’t very good but then was on Narrow Stairs and that album is still considered flawless. This again is *sigh* about Zooey bloody Deschanel like the lyrics are so specific that he may as well have just written it for himself and kept it on his ipod for his own personal cranks. DCFC albums tend to be 11 tracks and come in at 45 minutes so when you get a filler track you’re entitled to be a little concerned.
Hold No Guns is right up there with the very worst tracks Ben’s ever written. We’re talking, Talking Bird, 90% of Codes and Keys, Little Bribes, add it to the list.
Good Help (Is So Hard To Find) is GREAT. It’s the You Can Do Better Than Me or Stay Young Go Dancing of the album in that it’s unlike their usual offerings and unexpected in the tone of the album. Nice one.
As a standalone track the finale is just that piano one that he’s insisted on putting on the last few albums. The title, Binary Sea however, says everything about the album and time we live in. The number of people who will actively listen to this album is a fraction of those that will have it on their hard drives. Maybe they’ll listen to the first few tracks which at the end of the day, aren’t entirely gripping and move on or look on last.fm for the ‘best’ tracks and just check those.
The incentive to listen to an entire album is not what it once was but Death Cab make albums. There’s no other band I’ve listened to their albums from start to finish as much as these guys. It always felt to me like their albums represented a different mood and obviously they’ve been fairly clear about where this stands on that scale. So if you’re ever feeling like filling in the cracks of your life and embracing the person they’ve made you, that’s when you want to listen to this.