It is my greatest hope and my greatest fear that there are a hundred other bands out there like Death Cab for Cutie with albums as great and unknown to me as "The Photo Album" was just a month ago. My greatest hope becaue it makes me happy to believe that there is a treasure trove of great bands like this out there just waiting for me to discover them; my greatest fear because, if they are out there, why the hell haven't I heard about them yet?

After suffering through the disappointment of one highly anticipated record after another that just didn't live up to expectations (including new offerings from Spiritualized, Sparklehorse, New Order, and R.E.M.), I picked up Death Cab for Cutie on a whim. I knew they were part of the post-grunge Seattle scene that spawned other favorites of mine like Sleater-Kinney and Modest Mouse (a poster for an early Modest Mouse/Death Cab double bill actually goes for quite a bit on eBay), and they were often lumped in with other critical darlings like the Shins. In terms of their music, however, I knew very little; I was just ready to try something different and hope for the best.

I couldn't be happier about my purchase. A week after I got it, I had to go out and get their other three U.S. releases (two albums and one E.P.)—that's how bad this album got under my skin. It's a tricky one, though—the first couple of times you listen to it, you might find yourself thinking that it's a competent but relatively tame effort with nothing of particularly noteworthy about it. But just try to stop listening to it. I quickly found myself longing for Ben Gibbard's perfect voice (somewhere between the guy from the Connells and Ben Folds minus the sarcasm), lyrics that are deceptively complex in the simplicity with which they convey heartache and suburban despair, the simple but immacutely crafted melodies, and the pristine production that manages to highlight each of the instruments without making them sound distant from one another.

The album starts of slow and quiet with "Steadier Footing", which features nothing but Gibbard's voice, a lone guitar, and the occasional thunderous rumbling of a bass drum. "A Movie Script Ending" is more or less a typical Death Cab track, with simple but catchy guitar chords, a clean but engaging rhythm section, and undeniably hummable vocals—good luck trying to keep this song from bouncing around your head for hours after you stop listening to the CD.

The third track, "We Laugh Indoors" builds on a driving, repetive drum track, slowly adding other instruments and subtle variations. There is a beautiful section in the middle of the track that has Gibbard repeating "I loved you Guinivere" for what seems like a lifetime before the song finally explodes into an angry denial. "Information Travels Faster" is probably the most somber track on the record, and also the one that takes the longest to grow on you. But grow on you it will. The first half of the record closes out with "Why You'd Want to Live Here", an upbeat anti-love song to the claustrophobic, polluted suburbia of Los Angeles.

The second half kicks off with "Blacking Out the Friction" and "I Was a Kaliedoscope", probably the two best candidates for release as singles. "Styrofoam Plates" follows, a bitter story about the death of an absentee father that might sound overwrought if it didn't sound so true. "Coney Island" captures a gauzy, dreamy nostalgia for the innocence of childhood, with drums that seem in sync with the rolling up-and-down motion of a merry-go-round horse, and complementary guitar and piano parts that seem stolen from an antique music box melody. The album closes with "Debate Exposes Doubt", a mid-tempo number that fades from guitar-pop hooks to the tinkling of a lone piano.

Death Cab for Cutie have simply made a classic indie pop record in "The Photo Album". I don't know what else to say about it. If not for the pure scorching immediacy of the Strokes debut, the cybernetic perfection of Radiohead's "Amnesiac", and the eloquent quirkiness of Whiskeytown's tragically premature swan song, "The Photo Album" would be my pick for album of the year. It's that good.




Chris Pace
12.7.01