DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE: Thank You For Today

Death Cab for Cutie has always been a juxtaposition.  Like so many other Seattle rock bands, they sing of rain and gloom, of loss and death and addiction, and they do so with more literate and descriptive songwriting than most of their contemporaries.  But they do so with gently uplifting arrangements, in a way that somehow always sounds like a Sunday morning- a little hungover, but still warm and cozy.  Their ninth album Thank You For Today is perhaps the best example of the juxtaposition that they've ever released.

The album cover- like the album title- seems bland and new-agey at first glance.  But it's evident from the very first track that both are meant to be a little ironic.  I Dreamt We Spoke Again is a gorgeous love letter to the past- sweet, nostalgic and clearly a little bit stalkerish.  First single Gold Rush is equally two-sided.  On the surface, it sounds like a shimmering ode to Ben Gibbard's hometown.  But the lyrics quickly paint a good old-fashioned midlife crisis, "as every dive becomes something new, and all our ghosts get swept away..."  Even for a Seattle rock star, there's a pathos that comes with seeing your old neighborhood remodeled.  

It's worth noting that Thank You For Today sounds a bit more modern than previous Death Cab records.  The electronic flourishes are smart and vibrant, but never a total reinvention.  For anybody who thought I'll Follow You Into The Dark was beautiful, but just a tad heavy-handed, you'll be glad to hear the lyrics are never buried in the production.

The album concludes with 60 & Punk, a frank and earnest portrait of addiction.  Gibbard sings with something akin to survivor's remorse, to somebody akin to a dying loved one.  "There's nothing funny about you slipping away, there's nothing funny about how you're spending your days," he opines over a delicate piano progression.  "The curtain falls to applause and the band plays you off."  It's a typically poignant Death Cab eulogy, and yet- like so much of this fine album- somehow carries a hint of uplift.  B+