Death Cab For Cutie
Transatlanticism
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For $11.48

I know a great record when it takes its time to really hit me the right way at the right moment. It took a few times for this album to really sing to me in its simplicity. Oddly enough, I catch up to a lot of record listening at the gym, with headphones on while on the treadmill. I am most focused at that time, devoid of distraction and able to engage all the nuances of a particular album. Transatlanticism is not a record that you can work out to, but it invigorated me more than most albums I’ve heard in many a moon. I have delved into their past efforts, and wasn’t too impressed. Something about their latest is just tear-jerking without forcing the sentiment down your gullet, and it builds and builds like a symphony, tying the end back to the beginning. The title track contains a powerful upsurge, complete with a harmonious choir that simply sings “Come on!” Holding on to the strong ocean metaphor integrated into the disintegration and resurrection of a long-distance relationship, Death Cab never steers wrong making this album concise, picturesque, and even inspired. It spirits you away into a world all its own, with Ben Gibbard’s understated vocals that could be deemed emo, but is so much more than that. It’s as if Nick Drake met up New Order and played Brian Eno songs on guitar.

The rousing, fuzzy sway of opener “New Year” is contrasted by a stirring song like “Passenger Seat”, which is as intense as music can get without a wall of distortion, settling instead for ambient piano. “You are driving me home” says Gibbard in such a confessional tone that brings to mind the late, great Elliott Smith. This simply is melancholy at its most uplifting and transcending. Transatlanticism is the sonic equivalent of a sunlit daydream that is as universal and timeless as love itself. Without question, Death Cab For Cutie has created the very best record that you will hear this year. Listen to it a few times and soon you too will feel rewarded, moved, and elated. Or perhaps all you’ll need is one listen.

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