The Sound
of Settling
by rick olivares
It took me a while to warm up to Death
Cab for Cutie. I was aware of Ben Gibbard’s side project All-Time Quarterback
having listened to it theindiepages.com. I was in the throes of my nu-metal
phase and was going indie.
Even before I briefly worked at Virgin
Records in Times Square, I would always go to the indie rack on the ground
floor and prominent in the display was DCfC’s Transatlanticism.
I would for quite some time pick up
another disc but not the DCfC album. Until finally, I did. And the CD was
hardly over and I knew it was an instant classic. It’s the kind of album that
defines a band.
Last night I went to watch DCfC at the
NBC Tent at the Fort and I loved the venue for its smallness that made the show
all the more intimate. Sure I miss watching them in small clubs that was a
different time. Transatlanticism took
this Washington band to a whole new level.
The last time I saw them was at the
Siren Music Festival in Coney Island and the show remains one of the best I’ve
seen. With the Atlantic Ocean behind them, some five to six thousand people in
attendance, the performance was equal parts solemn and poignant but no less
powerful. It wasn’t a power pop performance but it was one that hit you in the
heart and mind. More so when “Transatlanticism” was played. The song and the album were
new. Some people in the crowd knew the lyrics but most didn’t. So people
listened to Ben Gibbard sing his heart out.
At the NBC Tent last night. It was a
sing-song affair as the crowd was familiar with the last three albums. But once
DCfC got to the old albums like We’ve
Got the Facts and We’re Voting Yes and The
Photo Album, they were quiet.
But the 23-song show will reverberate
not just because of the powerful performance but the emotions the songs
conveyed. What I have always loved about DCfC is their unconventional method to
songwriting. They have that soft-loud dynamic popularized by the Pixies and
perfected by Seattle bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam but Ben Gibbard and
company’s use of the electric piano and a melodic bass line can create haunting
songs. Songs that take you places and memories both good and bad. Take for
example “Unobstructed Views” from Codes
and Keys. It makes me think of bad days; a painful breakup that needs
healing. I don’t even need to wait for Gibbard to sing the lyrics. The long and
moving intro alone does that for me.
The musicianship of the band has
gotten better and I dare say that they are at the height of their powers. Many
thought that when they signed with Atlantic they would lose their indie charm
and creativity. While Transatlanticism
and The Photo Album remain my
favorite, the last three albums are something I can get to any day of the week
– Plans, Narrows Stairs, and Codes
and Keys. The latter sounds like Part II of what seems to be like a trilogy
for DCfC (in the same vein of The Cure’s Pornography, Disintegration, and
under-the-radar Bloodflowers).
Maybe to prove my theory, DCfC played
six and five songs from Transatlanticism
and Codes and Keys.
Over the course of show, Gibbard’s
voice turned raspy but I thought that it greatly added to the power of his
songs and lyrics. Death Cab for Cutie is one of the few bands I never tire of
listening to time and again and this performance will make me listen to the
songs in a different perspective; a good memory to draw upon.
And the last two songs of the entire
show – “A Movie Script Ending” and the hauntingly beautiful “Transatlanticism” were
a perfect way to end the evening.
The show was to crib their song title –
“ a soul meets body” experience. The songs, the show, the melodies will be
softly soaring through my atmosphere.
Set
List:
1.
A Lack of Color
2. I Will Possess Your Heart
3. Crooked Teeth
4. We Laugh Indoors
5. Photobooth
6. Doors Unlocked and Open
7. Long Division
8. Grapevine Fires
9. Codes and Keys
10. What
Sarah Said
11. I Will
Follow You Into the Dark
12. Title
and Registration
13. You Are
a Tourist
14. The New Year
15. Company
Calls
16. Soul Meets Body
17. Cath
18. We Looked Like Giants
19. The
Sound of Settling
20. Home is
a Fire
21. Meet me
in the Equinox
22. A Movie Script Ending
23.
Transatlanticism
