To some extent, this EP — culled from songs left off last year's Narrow Stairs — feels like a Death Cab for Cutie sampler pack: "Little Bribes" is a return to the jaunty guitar rock of The Photo Album; the driving "I Was Once a Loyal Lover" is the Seattle foursome at their poppiest; and the riff-based "My Mirror Speaks" would have fit perfectly on 2005's Plans. "These eyes don't shine...

A strange and beautiful thing happens on this reissue's bonus live disc. During the first song of their maiden Seattle show, in 1998, Death Cab play "Your Bruise" with the melancholy precision that later became their hallmark. Not every cut on their debut is that assured: Guitarist-producer Chris Walla hadn't yet mastered the studio, and singer Ben Gibbard's articulate moodiness isn't consistently...