[HEADING=3]30. Super-duper cool and Indie[/HEADING]
[HEADING=1]We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes[/HEADING]
[HEADING=2]_by Death Cab for Cutie[/HEADING]
[h4]Genre = Indie
Number of Songs = 10
Highlights = the album[/h4]
Now I'll bet that many of you will have heard of "Death Cab" (the "for Cutie" bit is usually lopped off when talking about them, don't question it, just conform), the main man, Benjamin Gibbard, has gone onto do notable side projects such as a solo album and The Postal Service. This has lead Death Cab and the majority of their many albums to become pretty popular. So why am I choosing to review their second oldest album? I'm doing it because I'm super-duper cool and indie like that, but also because their first two albums are brilliant and I didn't feel like tackling the 18-song epic that was the first. Death Cab are a mainly acoustic band that incorporate soft singing and mellow feel for dramatic effect.
One thing to notice with this album is that there seems to be a noticeable lack of polish to some of the songs, meaning they don't have a clean cut sound and sound rather fuzzy at times. While this immediately put me off the album, it has a certain charm to it that does suit this album with the way it feels lazy and laid back. Oh and this album is pretty slow and depressing, in fact make that very slow and depressing. What happy moments there are, are overlayed by melancholious parts that rather than sounding whiny and immature, somehow seem reflective. There is obviously variety as to the feelings of the individual songs but there definitely a trend that runs through the entire album: be it through the down beaten lyrics, slow and simple guitar parts and minimal build up.
The album opens with the confusingly named Title Track, which is not the title track, but a song with that name. It has all the elements that I've already mentioned but pulls it off incredibly. As with most Death Cab songs, it depicts a story that unfolds throughout the song. The consistency is an example of Gibbard's genius when it comes to song writing. The chorus of "Talking about how the group had begun to splinter/ and I could taste your lipstick on the filter" is something that is very hard to forget. It's the kind of song that knocks you in a blissful trance that is impossible to get out of for its duration, in fact most of the album is similar to this.
Little Fury Bugs has much the same effect, though it tries to trick you with an upbeat intro and similar guitar throughout; much like This Charming Man by The Smiths which Death Cab covered (very well) on the first album. Like Charming Man, it is still quite a down beat song thanks to the soft singing and the way that the instruments slowly get more "depressing" as the song progresses. As far as the trace factor goes with this song, it's incredibly high and can knock you out for days.
Possibly the slowest song on the album is 405, it's so slow it's off-putting. Even for someone with my musical tastes it seems a bit much. Nevertheless it is very well done and will manage to win people over with the care free feel to go along with the expected. That's the thing about "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes", while the songs are very simple they all have a noticeable depth to them. Whether this is from the raw quality of them, my insanity or a mixture of the two.
These are not the only good songs on the album, there is only one song I wouldn't happily reckomend and all have a distinct feel. The astonishing thing about Death Cab is that they do this with every album, there may not ever be a "single", so to speak (there's one with the new album but we'll ignore that for now), but they are consistently good. No, more than good, they are great. It's amazing how well lyrics of mediocrity and drudgery, along with cleverly assembled instruments, can have such an effect.
For any indie lover, I highly doubt that you've missed Death Cab, but you will have probably missed this album. So go and get it and then send me money in thanks for all the good times I've just supplied for you.
One thing to notice with this album is that there seems to be a noticeable lack of polish to some of the songs, meaning they don't have a clean cut sound and sound rather fuzzy at times. While this immediately put me off the album, it has a certain charm to it that does suit this album with the way it feels lazy and laid back. Oh and this album is pretty slow and depressing, in fact make that very slow and depressing. What happy moments there are, are overlayed by melancholious parts that rather than sounding whiny and immature, somehow seem reflective. There is obviously variety as to the feelings of the individual songs but there definitely a trend that runs through the entire album: be it through the down beaten lyrics, slow and simple guitar parts and minimal build up.
The album opens with the confusingly named Title Track, which is not the title track, but a song with that name. It has all the elements that I've already mentioned but pulls it off incredibly. As with most Death Cab songs, it depicts a story that unfolds throughout the song. The consistency is an example of Gibbard's genius when it comes to song writing. The chorus of "Talking about how the group had begun to splinter/ and I could taste your lipstick on the filter" is something that is very hard to forget. It's the kind of song that knocks you in a blissful trance that is impossible to get out of for its duration, in fact most of the album is similar to this.
Little Fury Bugs has much the same effect, though it tries to trick you with an upbeat intro and similar guitar throughout; much like This Charming Man by The Smiths which Death Cab covered (very well) on the first album. Like Charming Man, it is still quite a down beat song thanks to the soft singing and the way that the instruments slowly get more "depressing" as the song progresses. As far as the trace factor goes with this song, it's incredibly high and can knock you out for days.
Possibly the slowest song on the album is 405, it's so slow it's off-putting. Even for someone with my musical tastes it seems a bit much. Nevertheless it is very well done and will manage to win people over with the care free feel to go along with the expected. That's the thing about "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes", while the songs are very simple they all have a noticeable depth to them. Whether this is from the raw quality of them, my insanity or a mixture of the two.
These are not the only good songs on the album, there is only one song I wouldn't happily reckomend and all have a distinct feel. The astonishing thing about Death Cab is that they do this with every album, there may not ever be a "single", so to speak (there's one with the new album but we'll ignore that for now), but they are consistently good. No, more than good, they are great. It's amazing how well lyrics of mediocrity and drudgery, along with cleverly assembled instruments, can have such an effect.
For any indie lover, I highly doubt that you've missed Death Cab, but you will have probably missed this album. So go and get it and then send me money in thanks for all the good times I've just supplied for you.
