Death Cab for Cutie | Kintsugi

It takes a lot for me to turn my back on someone. This loyalty extends not only to people but musical artists as well. While part of it is just trying to keep sacred one of my few virtuous qualities, another factor is my own selfish desire to not have to seek replacements. I don’t enjoy meeting new people or making new friends and while I do enjoy finding new music, I’m comforted knowing that the artists I’ve followed for decades are still there doing the thing that made me fall in love with them in the first place. It’s through this loyalty that I’ve stuck with many bands as they rose and fell from popularity, cycled through various band mates, and experimented with changing their sound over time.

With Death Cab for Cutie their biggest change (with the exception of the just recent departure of founding member Chris Walla) has been the gradual change from a guitar driven band to one that relies heavily on keys. Looking back on early albums like Something About Airplanes and The Photo Album it was clear that they established an indie sound most recognizable by Walla’s guitar and Ben Gibbard’s haunting vocals. But as they moved on to making records like the 2003 masterpiece Transatlanticism and its solid follow up 2005’s Plans, piano had become a huge part of their song writing. By the time they created their last album a few years ago, their former sound was hardly present with the exception of Gibbard’s voice; and even that was delivering lyrics that were far too positive from the band that wrote “Tiny Vessels” and “Brothers on a Hotel Bed”. Codes & Keys, was just as the title promised, an album full of keyboards and pre-programmed music and it was enough of a departure to send many former Death Cab fans packing.

Personally I liked Codes & Keys. Well I didn’t hate it.  I certainly didn’t love it.  The music wasn’t really my style and the lyrics in particular were overly-simplistic and repetitive. But I found that enough of it resembled Gibbard’s electronic solo project The Postal Service, whose one and only album Give Up is a favorite of mine for reasons I’ve never quite understood. There were some moments on that album that made me feel like I was back in the ’80s which is a terrible feeling of course. Still I’m surprised more people didn’t love it with the way that disgrace of a decade had made a comeback in the late 2000s. Maybe DCFC fans were some of the proud and few that still rejected synthesizers, corny movies, and fluorescent colored clothing. Who can say for sure? What I can say is that their newest progression of sound made many fans and critics alike throw in the towel on this band.

But I’m a loyalist. If I lived 2 centuries ago I would have been long dead buried in a red coat. Whatever Gibbard and company were going to release this year I was going to hear out. Upon hearing Kintsugi for the first time a couple weeks ago, my first thoughts were “Holy crap, they still haven’t got this electronic fix out of their system yet” and “Holy Crap, I actually like it.” The opening track “No Room in Frame” recalls the indie pop of Belle & Sebastian and while it has a constant beat provided by a drum machine and keyboard sample, it is joined by the familiar and subtle distorted guitar helps make it feel like a Death Cab song. It’s a more optimistic, pop friendly Death Cab, but it’s still them. Their first single “Black Sun” follows, and also loves keyboard too much but also works in some decent fuzzed out guitar. “The Ghosts of Beverly Drive” is my favorite song from Kintsugi and probably not coincidentally it reminds me of the best track from Codes & Keys, “Doors Unlocked and Open”. Three songs in I understood why fans pinning for the guitar driven Death Cab of old are never coming back to the band, but I felt like this was a smarter, superior version of their last album. And if you’re going to make a keyboard driven electronic emo album you better do it right!

Sadly, my interest in this album falls off gradually after these first songs. “Little Wanderer” is okay. It’s sort of a throwback with muted guitars and a story about a failing relationship, but it also feels like it could have been a b-side off Plans. “You’ve Haunted Me All My Life” is lifeless and ironically a song that will never haunt for all your life because you will forget it existed entirely within 3 minutes of listening to it. It is followed by “Hold No Guns”, a song that reinforces the fact that “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” was the pinnacle of their attempts to write an effective acoustic song. Even when they try to bring the energy back with “Everything’s a Ceiling” it sounds like I’m listening to the Top Gun Soundtrack. And not even in the so-bad-its-good Danger Zone way. “Good Help” is another Codes & Keys repeat, “El Dorado” is even worse, and “Ingenue” has notes that recalls songs from We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes, but somehow just aren’t as effective with the way this band and their production sounds in 2015. Kintsugi closes with “Binary Sea”, a song that I won’t be upset I’m missing when I don’t make it past the 3^rd song when listening to this album the next time.

I was ready to like this album even though others hated it, or at least hated its predecessor. I knew it wouldn’t be another Transatlanticism or even a Narrow Stairs, but I still thought I would enjoy it. Unfortunately after many listens my early impression of “3 strong songs and then I just can’t pay attention” is confirmed. I don’t feel bad that I don’t like this album. Sometimes bands experiment with a different sound and it’s not for everyone. With DCFC it’s now been two in a row, and I’m not sure what they will make next time around or if they will make anything at all. Am I being disloyal if I ignore it when it is dropped in 2018 or was I loyal enough trying these two albums even though I knew it wouldn’t sound like the albums that made me care about Death Cab for Cutie to begin with? Deep down I know that I will check out album number nine when it is released but I can’t deny that I’m hoping they go in yet another different direction if their original sound is truly gone for good.

The Drink: A Fuzzy Navel. Big in the 80s and light on substance.

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Bake

I'm nothing. Maybe less than nothing. I also write.

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