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Death Cab For Cutie

Plans  Hear it Now

RS: 3of 5 Stars Average User Rating: 4.5of 5 Stars

2005

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Sometimes you hear a hungry, young indie-rock band toughing it out in a small town somewhere, and you just know that this band is destined to take the whole world by storm. Death Cab for Cutie are not one of those bands. In fact, even their biggest fans have to be a bit gobsmacked at their success. On their fantastic 2000 album We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes, Death Cab were already masterful, tuneful, resonant upstarts, in full command of their own eccentric guitar-shamble style. But these Bellingham, Washington, indie dudes seemed unlikely to ever go out in public wearing socks that matched, much less find mass appeal. Who thought they'd become high school misfit pinup boys? Who thought Ben Gibbard's melancholic tenor would get airplay, both with Death Cab and his synth-pop side project the Postal Service? Who thought these non-fashion-plates would become muses to The O.C., playing the Bait Shop the way the Flaming Lips once played the Peach Pit on 90210? Just think: If Death Cab had finished this album a little sooner, they could have kept Mischa and Brandon together.

Death Cab broke through with their fourth and finest album, 2003's Transatlanticism. That disc still sounds so great, it's a little scary. Gibbard's emotive singing and guitar found the perfect foil in the production of guitarist-keyboardist Chris Walla, who gave the big pow to songs like "Title and Registration," "Tiny Vessels" and "Transatlanticism," amping up Gibbard's purploid poetics without steamrolling right over him. Also in 2003, Gibbard teamed up with producer Jimmy Tamborello for the Postal Service album, which came out of nowhere to become Sub Pop's biggest seller since Nirvana's Bleach. Not a bad one-two punch.

On Plans, Death Cab's fifth album (and first for a major label), they try hard not to make Transatlanticism all over again. Instead, they reach for an expansive, Abbey Road pop style, with mixed results. The high points are high, just not as high as last time. "Marching Bands of Manhattan" is a great start, with Gibbard chanting, "Your love is gonna drown" over an urgent guitar riff. The single "Soul Meets Body" has an R.E.M.-style jangle, sped up to electro-disco tempo. "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" strips it down to Gibbard's voice and acoustic guitar, which works powerfully for such a starkly emotional love song dealing with the imminence of death. Yet it demonstrates how wise Gibbard is to let the band mess with his pristine melodies, which would sound wispy and ignorable on their own.

Plans flounders in the second half, where Death Cab run out of songs and try to fill the holes with busy keyboard bits. They obviously decided to minimize guitars and emphasize synths, maybe inspired by the success of the Postal Service -- after the first two songs, there isn't a memorable guitar part on the whole album. This should have been a fruitful experiment. But mostly it proves they're a guitar band. Unlike the Postal Service, they don't have beats, not even theoretical ones, and these fussy little keyboard frills get incredibly annoying without any rhythmic drive. "Crooked Teeth" is a case where it all goes ass -- awful production, cloying melody, chintzy keyboards. "Different Names for the Same Thing" is a good ballad, but the rinky-dink synths turn it into a retread of Madonna's theme from that movie where Joe Pesci plays a homeless guy at Harvard. That probably wasn't the idea.

Gibbard's voice holds Plans together. As always, he indulges his boyish romanticism, more than ever now that he's contemplating mortality and shedding his "Summer Skin." Plans ends up being more erratic than Transatlanticism, still their sharpest so far. There's no reason Death Cab for Cutie shouldn't keep trying to expand their signature sound. But as the strongest moments on Plans prove, their signature sound hasn't run out of things to say yet.

ROB SHEFFIELD

(Posted: Aug 22, 2005)

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Review 1 of 5

MysticalGenesis writes:

5of 5 Stars


Major label status is not something huge for Death Cab for Cutie. They have been fielding offers from record execs as far back as 1998, but they've taken this long to sign, probably because they wanted to refine their sound. And if that's true, then Plans marks the height of the band's extension of musical ideals. Right off the bat, the record does not show as much raucous energy as their previous effort, Transatlanticism, which opened with what can safely be called the most melodramatic song Death Cab have ever recorded, in The New Year. But with repeated listens, no track on the new album pales in comparison to any track on the last record. This is an album that expands on Transatlanticism, being that it's not only more sparsely produced, but also more densely layered, and the band is taking more risks. The album's first single, Soul Meets Body, is an exercise in Ben Gibbard and company trying on their disco shoes, with a steady back beat and Dr. Rhythm drum sounds, but still retains the essential Death Cab feel. As the record moves along, you'll find the requisite depressing break-up numbers, such as Summer Skin, in which Gibbard compares his love to a bad sunburn. At about the midpoint of the album, you'll notice the band, and Gibbard especially, has taken a more resigned, accepting take on terrible ordeals in relationships. You'll also find the band branching off into new topics of songwriting, such as in Your Heart is an Empty Room, in which the protagonist burns down his own house and everything in it as a symbol of acceptance and moving on. If there's any track here that can be compared to Transatlanticism's grab-you-by-the-heartstrings feel, it would be What Sarah Said. Gibbard wastes no time in the song informing the listener that his love is in the ICU, "that reeked of piss and 409." The song's slow build and eventful catharsis with the line, "But I'm thinking of what Sarah said/That love is watching someone die," provide the backdrop for one of Death Cab's more dramatically moving songs. The album then closes with Stable Song, a rewrite of Stability, from the EP of the same name. Penned in with ringing guitars instead of cold piano, and a major key progression instead of the scary minor keys played throughout Stability, and notably trimmed down in time from twelve minutes to four, Stable Song ranks as Death Cab for Cutie's most beautiful song yet. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here, that time and patience are essential in achieving your goals. Or perhaps, Death Cab wanted to wait until they had an album as masterful as this to unleash on modern radio.

Nov 30, 2006 22:28:02

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Review 2 of 5

Reaction writes:

5of 5 Stars


Plans is one of the most beautifully fragile and touching albums I've ever heard. I became aware of it the year after it was released and it became my soundtrack for 2005, amid an emotional backdrop which featured my first broken heart. The memories associated with some of the songs can bring me to tears at the press of a 'play' button. And even if there were no memories with 'I Will Follow You Into The Dark', it would still be the most amazingly simple acoustic song I have heard - I know its release as a single will still never get me to tire of it.

'Brothers on a Hotel Bed' is a beautiful track with lyrics that hurt me at the same time as I confide in them. In 'Crooked Teeth', Death Cab have a great rockier song to move to, all the while with Gibbard's trademark poetry painting lyrics like a mixed-up masterpiece of irony and melancholy infused with optimistic hopes for brighter times.

I'm very happy to keep this album as a slightly 'underground' treat, innocent of the blatant commercialisation so many small bands succumb to. Perhaps in the US, Death Cab are big news, but here in Australia, only a few really know of them, and that makes them even more mysterious and alluring.

'Transatlanticism' is absolute class, yes, but Plans is no less staggering in its edgy and raw majesty.

Jul 20, 2006 06:08:04

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Review 3 of 5

inc0ncert writes:

2of 5 Stars


this cd was less impressive. to me, it was about time that ben gibbard recieved the attention that he deserved, however, plans brought a new crowd to the now expensive death cab shows. for those who have enjoyed death cabs cd (and tapes) from the beginning, its rough to see new fans arise and favorite songs played on mtv. plans does not measure up to the rest, but death cab will always have a place in my heart.

Jul 12, 2006 18:49:44

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Review 4 of 5

Helena87 writes:

4of 5 Stars


not really any "get going"-tracks, but still a wonderful album. loving "your heart is an empty room", ""marching bands of manhattan", "crooked teeth" and "brothers on a hotel bed" the most. amazing. thank u DC.

Feb 6, 2006 04:53:03

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Review 5 of 5

Bluemask writes:

4of 5 Stars


Perhaps out of nervousness about their first major label release, DCFC turn up the tunes on their fifth LP. Keyboards aplenty on songs such as "Marching Bands Of Manhattan", "Brothers On A Hotel Bed" and "What Sara Said". These four Washignton lads also edge closer to REM with the jangle guitars and sing-song melodys on "Soul Meets Body" and "Crooked Teeth". The big surprise though is "I'll Follow You Into The Dark", an acoustic song about a dying lover.

Dec 6, 2005 16:27:16

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