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EDIT INFODeath Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
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Album Details
- Artist: Death Cab For Cutie
- Album: Transatlanticism
- Label: Barsuk
- Year of Release: 2003
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-12-02
RecommendBen Gibbard, vocalist of Death Cab For Cutie has been a busy boy this year. With the surprise success of Postal Service, I'm surprised that he still found time to get Transatlanticism into production. I have been a Death Cab fan since day one, falling in love with the cover of Something About Airplanes and I have found that each of their albums have been getting progressively better. Transatlanticism is their fourth full-length and after much deliberation, it is their finest. The album kicks off with the epic sounding "The New Year". Ben is sounding fresh and invigorated on this one. Gibbard and his crew are able to turn what could easily be boring, mediocre music into some of the most complete and full experiences a CD could provide. And if you listen to the album more than once, you are taken even deeper into their charm. There are times on the album when I am just amazed at the lushness of the album. "Tiny Vessels" is one of those moments, just before the 3 minute mark it breaks down into an amazing interlude. Not good enough? Try out the sparse "Passenger Seat" on for size, with Ben only being accompanied by a piano. Death Cab For Cutie is today's indie rock light listening at it's finest. If you have never taken the time to get introduced to Death Cab, Transatlanticism is the key. Jump on and you will go back and discover the rest of their albums.
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on 2011-11-09 CharlesMartel Said:
" Transatlanticism " is an album I find hard to review. The reason is that I find there is so little I can say about it. It is one of those albums which, for me, will always be in the middle of everything. If it has one superlative it is that, if all my reviews and rating were plotted on a graph, "Transatlanticism" would be at the very apex of the bell curve. I suppose that is a positive thing in some kind of back handed complimentary way.
Now, you might expect that with such a description I would find this mediocre. Well, that is not the case. It is an album for the moment, but a moment which hardly ever takes me, at least not any more. Ben Gibbard writes catchy songs, sometimes pensive sometimes with a bit of fun in them, but there is nothing in any of them which I feel relates to me in any way. The music? Well, there is no complaint there. This is tight and well-produced, but then so are a thousand other albums and many of them I like better than this.
This is an album which, as far as I am concerned, is the very definition of average. Not that there is anything wrong with it. It would, for instance, make a pretty good soundtrack to some mildly entertaining film. The problem is that, as I have explained elsewhere, music has to move me. It has to produce an effect on me. It might remind me of a person, a place, and event; it might stir an emotional response in me; or it might, in some rare cases, stir a physical response in me. Only then can I truly regard that piece of music as being something I like.
The problem with "Transatlanticism" is that, for all the positives I can say about it, it stirs me not one whit. It produces no response in me whatsoever. And that, no matter how well-put together the album and the music is, means that it is never going to rise above being just plain old average. Other reviews will no doubt disagree, and that is fine. Maybe in a different life or under different circumstances this album would have made a connection with me, somewhere. It is not the fault of the album or the band that it did not. But it did not, and average is what this will always remain.
Rating: 5/10
Review:
on 2007-07-28 blackxdan Said:
The first album i had picked up from 'Death Cab for Cutie' and i personally loved it. Such an amazing different sound for me. It was something i never thought that i would be able to get into, but I'm glad i was proved wrong. After listening to this band enough, i was convinced to go back to the record store and buy all of their albums. Death Cab For Cutie isnt a band to let down their fans. With each release you'll find yourself more and more excited and prompted to wait for the next. Thats something i really admire about Death Cab for Cutie, they keep you wanting more, and when they deliver, they do with style.
Rating: 10/10
