Death Cab for Cutie - Plans

Transatlanticism left me begging for Ben Gibbard to let his inner rock star out. 2 years from the release of that album, he seems to have taken my advice and done the opposite. Gibbard and crew have made one of the prettiest, most touching, and emotionally affecting albums in a long time… so why do I feel like I’ve been cheated out of something?

Basically, Plans is the work of a man who is really not all that ambitious. I can understand that, since I’m not all that ambitious either. But every single track on Plans makes me think that Death Cab for Cutie could have done so much more. I realize that Death Cab got a lot of media attention super-quickly because of Transatlanticism, and all that pressure can cause some people to withdraw. I think that’s what happened with Plans. There was so much hype surrounding it that Death Cab purposefully made it underwhelming, as if to say “We’ll make whatever album we want to make, and we won’t be swayed by the likes of you.” You gotta respect that.

Chris Walla is a masterful producer, I must say. His style is very understated, subtracting elements rather than adding them, and that suits Death Cab for Cutie very well. Sometimes he goes as far as to have just Ben and an acoustic guitar, as on “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.” Plans is a very quiet album, and Death Cab doesn’t grasp for anything throughout the entire proceedings. The problem is not that it doesn’t shoot for the moon, but that it doesn’t even shoot for the tops of the trees. It’s pretty, but it doesn’t challenge or captivate us the way some of their previous albums did.

The bouncy fun of “I Was a Kaleidoscope” and “Death of an Interior Decorator” is only present on one song (“Crooked Teeth”), as the dark intensity of “We Looked Like Giants” only shows up on “Someday You Will Be Loved.” “Crooked Teeth,” while the big single, doesn’t have the mark of lyrical excellence that we’ve come to expect from Gibbard. It’s a little like those two songs were only included as hold-overs so Ben could get back to the ponderous beauty of the rest of the album. There is beauty, but it’s a schmaltzy beauty, and even a cheap beauty in places. I’d rather Death Cab didn’t try for beauty at all if it’s going to be cheap. The exception is “What Sarah Said,” which is marvelous. Here, all the elements come together in exactly the right way to create a song that is filled to the brim with pain, sadness, and unbelievable beauty. It represents a moment where the protagonist’s understanding shifts to a higher level, one that can only be reached when you have a brush with death, be it your own or that of someone you love.

Speaking of death, there seems to be a lot of it on Plans. However, that’s a point of credit to the album, because it’s evident that Gibbard has an understanding of death that not a lot of other artists have. I myself have been very close to death, so that resonates with me in a very special way. Gibbard has said in interviews that Death Cab for Cutie’s other albums have been about looking back in sadness, but that Plans was much more optimistic. After all, to make plans, you have to have something to look forward to. It is optimistic, but it’s odd that an album that is so optimistic would be so concerned with death. The album is nice, but it feels incomplete, and I feel like I only got half the story. With the exception of “What Sarah Said,” the whole thing feels kind of like a joke you don’t really get, but laugh at anyway. Your joke has a good build-up, Ben. I just hope that with the next album, you give us the punch-line.

Prime Cuts:
What Sarah Said
Soul Meets Body
I Will Follow You Into the Dark
Brother On a Hotel Bed

22 Rating: 9

(Just for the record, Transatlanticism has increased in my estimation from a 10 to a 13.)