LP Review: Transatlanticism by Death Cab For Cutie
October 29, 2011 2 Comments
Death Cab For Cutie
Transatlanticism
Barsuk; 2003
My Rating: A (88/100)
Best Tracks: "The New Year", "Title & Registration", "The Sound of Settling", "Transatlanticism", "Passenger Seat", "We Looked Like Giants"
Emo grande.
TRACK NOTES
"The New Year" (4.5/5)
- From the beginning, announces a new Death Cab.
- "So everybody put your best suit or dress on/We’ll make-believe we are happy for just this once/Lighting firecrackers off on the front-lawn/As 30 dialogues bleed into one"
- The biggest rock song they’ve done. Maybe a little Trail of Dead influence here?
- Near perfect, but I’ve always felt like it ends a bit abruptly, like an unfinished thought.
"Lightness" (4.5/5)
- Floats.
- Beautiful, sleepy melody.
- "Oh instincts are misleading/You shouldn’t think what you’re feeling/They don’t tell you what you know you should want…”
"Title & Registration" (5/5)
- Brilliant in every way.
- Great arrangement. Love the xylophone.
"Expo ’86" (4.5/5)
- Gibbard does amazing melodies and riffs, but on this album they were overflowing, plain and simple. Case in point. This sounds effortless.
"The Sound of Settling" (5/5)
- If there was ever a radio-friendly Death Cab tune, this is it.
"Tiny Vessels" (4/5)
- Nice chiming guitar riff.
"Transatlanticism" (5/5)
- Epic.
"Passenger Seat" (4.5/5)
- The talked about Codes & Keys being Eno-esque, but this is maybe the most Eno-esque thing they’ve recorded.
- A bit of a Lennon thing going on too.
- Flows really well on the heels of the title track.
"Death of an Interior Decorator" (4/5)
- Sounds like the early 90’s.
"We Looked Like Giants" (5/5)
- Huge and feverish.
"A Lack of Color" (4.5/5)
- Dark and, well, quite frankly, a wee bit depressing.
- “This is fact not fiction for the first time in years…”
ALBUM NOTES
- This is the best emo record since Diary.
- If you are new to Death Cab, I recommend starting here.
- Conceptually perfect.
- Very cinematic. Were there any videos made for this album?
- They emphasized the Eno influence on their latest (Codes & Keys), but I heard plenty of Eno influence here, especially on "Passenger Seat" and "Transatlanticism."
- And what’s that noise that opens and closes the album?
- Here’s an older review of this album.
- Previous Death Cab albums: Something About Airplanes, We Have the Facts, The Photo Album, You Can Play These Songs.
ATTRIBUTES
Cohesion (5/5)
Concept (5/5)
Consistency (4.5/5)
Consequence (5/5)
Songs (4.5/5)
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