Something About Airplanes (Deluxe Edition)

by

Death Cab for Cutie

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Death Cab for Cutie's 1999 debut was simultaniously familiar and an expedition into brave new territory; in essence, a fuzzy lo-fi gem.

A few of the tracks here are gleaned from singer/guitarist/primary songwriter Ben Gibbard's demo tapes (You Can Play These Songs With Chords, rereleased by Barsuk in 2002), and the great tunesmithing found there is even better this time around. While that might form the core of the tracks, the newer songs are just as good.

"Bend to Squares" starts Something About Airplanes off on a good note, a swirling mix of distorted (as well as acoustic) guitars and cello. The next track, "President of What?", sounds like the Zombies on speed, complete with an extremely memorable organ line.

Yeah, a few of the tracks do blend together, but several listens will cement certain parts of the album into your mind permenantly: the "I'm definitely shaking" section on the power-popish "Pictures in an Exhibition"; the chiming electric guitar channel on the almost twangy "Sleep Spent"; the entire song "Amputations," one of the finest songs Gibbard has written; and the shoegazing swell of album closer "Line of Best Fit," in which the harmonized male/female vocals are near hypnotic over the throbbing guitars.

On the downside...there really isn't one. The lo-fi quality of the recording might be hard to take for someone not accustom to it, but the songs themselves are what really counts.

As far as what the band sounds like, I'd say they are far far far away from the "emo" tag many have wrongly labeled them with. The Built to Spill references aren't dead on either, but I will say Death Cab for Cutie could be compared to a more fuzzed out There's Nothing Wrong With Love-era BTS, minus Doug Martsch's guitar heroics.

Something About Airplanes is a melodic, creative, and lush album that is a great starting point for a wonderful band. I highly recommend it.