Death Cab For Cutie

The Photo Album (Barsuk)
by Tim Den

Talk about being converted. I liked Death Cab For Cutie‘s The Forbidden Love EP, but The Photo Album has made me a die-hard fan. Masters of “less is more” but also “lots when needed,” this Seattle quartet writes and arranges like the natural successors to Sunny Day Real Estate. Stylish execution, dreamy melodies, and occasional crunchy chords flesh out the tunes like puzzle pieces falling into place. Topping it all off is guitarist/vocalist Ben Gibbard’s exquisite prose: Spitting regret, cynicism, nostalgia, and romance with an ease that belies his young age (24). Most notably on “Styrofoam Plates,” a fictitious account of an abandoned child reflecting on the life of the father he never knew, Gibbard etches a painful scene out of impeccably chosen words, restrained delivery, and gorgeous melodies… absolutely brilliant.

With an album like The Photo Album that’s so rich in its messages and so detailed in its musical mappings, the world is Death Cab For Cutie’s to take.
(PO Box 22546 Seattle, WA 98122)