Death Cab For Cutie

Something About Airplanes

[July Challenge] July 6

In the words of Alphaville, "Heaven can wait."
When I was young, I boarded an airplane for the first time to reach a place somewhere very far. As the hours passed by, I looked outside the windows with the thought of the heavens residing deep in the clouds. As a child, I looked at the vast stratosphere wondering about the future that was waiting for me on my destination. There was also one thing on my mind: Is this how I die? On my first few rides, there was ... read more

In my mind, Death Cab is actually a band that made better songs and records over time, and when Something About Airplanes was released, Ben Gibbard was evidently still developing as a songwriter. That said, this record has some keepers, including Bend to Squares, Pictures in a (an?) Exhibition and Sleep Spent.

What a pleasant surprise. Going into this album, I expected an average debut record that was kinda bland and boring. The very modest cover supported my suspicions. But what I got instead was a nice, satisfying little album that presented vivid songwriting with catchy melodies and on-key instrumentation. Production was a little messy at times, but that still couldn't bring down how nice this record sounded. I really enjoyed it.

Light-Decent 7/10

This is my first review for this site, as I was looking for somewhere to write my thoughts on music. I also wanted to go through the discographies of some artists I used to adore, and try and rediscover what it was about them that I once loved. With the 15th anniversary of The O.C. having just passed, and their new album, "Thank You For Today" coming out this week, I thought I'd start this with Death Cab For Cutie.

"Something About Airplanes" sounds thoroughly like a band's ... read more