omophagia's Full Review: Plans by Death Cab For Cutie
One of the most infuriating developments in pop culture in recent memory is the appropriation of “indie” as something of a novelty sub-genre—- see also the endless string of pop fads extending from swing to ska to “Latin” to bluegrass to nu-metal to pop-punk to emo and so on indefinitely—- by the mainstream media in the past year. It’s terribly reductive, for one thing, as though the whole of independent music fits easily under one umbrella for the purposes of making it easier for mass consumption by those who simply don’t like to think very hard about such matters. It’s worth noting, of course, that when the kids at Hot Topic say they’re in to “indie” music, they mean that they’re in to a very specific type of pop music not terribly far removed from emo-— a brand of delicately crafted pop that, on the surface, sounds cheerful but which typically boasts supposedly introspective lyrics running the gamut all the way from “downtrodden” to “morose.”
What I find more odd and personally off-putting about turning any fringe genre into a popular trend is the implication that, like popular music that is more openly mass-produced and marketed as disposable (i.e. Rihanna is the poor man’s Lumidee, and there’s no qualitative difference between Joe Nichols or Blake Shelton), its value comes with an arbitrarily determined expiration date tied to factors that have no substantive interest in the music itself. The latest Ciara single retains its value only until she releases her next single, but “swing” music is only of interest or value until… George Clooney stars in a movie that makes “bluegrass” trendy? Pop culture is an inherently shallow endeavor, in and of itself, but this particular music marketing strategy is deeply mean-spirited, and it’s easy to see how so many artists find themselves at-odds with sudden, unexpected spikes in their commercial clout.
What ultimately happens during one of these cycles is two-fold. First off, a legion of new “artists” emerges, most frequently from major labels who had no prior interest in the newly-profitable fringe genre, and artists of middling credibility in the first place attempt to co-opt the trend (98 Degrees’ adding two words of Spanish to one of their singles so they might appeal to Ricky Martin’s demographic, or SheDaisy’s sudden interest in putting a banjo in one of their otherwise adult contemporary singles) to capitalize on the proverbial sales bubble before it inevitably bursts. Secondly, the artists within the genre who were either actively or passively involved in its increased popularity still have music to record, but they find themselves confronted with something of a dilemma. Do they continue to develop a unique artistic identity, or are they swayed by whatever expectations the tastemakers who write Entertainment Weekly’s “trendwatch” have as to what their music should sound like?
Death Cab for Cutie played a major role in the emergence of “indie” as a massively popular trend, thanks in no small part to the inclusion of several of their songs on the soundtrack to Fox’s The O.C.. Which, for the record, is a show I’ve watched precisely once, since I didn’t like Beverly Hills, 90210 a decade ago, and because I find the actions of kids in the real-life Orange County (Want a horrifying primer on everything wrong with sexual politics and the criminal justice system in the United States? Enjoy, or not: http://www.ocweekly.com/county/index.php#haidl) a bit too grave to dismiss with poorly-acted escapism. Concurrent with Natalie Portman’s hyperbolic exclamations about The Shins in the pandering, strident, and socially irresponsible Garden State-— and, yes, I’m aware that I’m in a distinct minority of people who aren’t fans of either The O.C. or Garden State, let alone both of them-— the double-shot of intricate guitar-pop launched a trend that may have peaked with the release of Death Cab for Cutie’s latest album, Plans.
I say “peak,” in the sense that Death Cab for Cutie previously recorded for Barsuk records (home of such commercial powerhouses as John Vanderslice), but that Atlantic records signed them to a lucrative contract, attempting to strike while the iron is hot. And that maneuver paid off handsomely, as Plans debuted at a lofty #4 on the Billboard albums chart, landing between albums by consistent multi-platinum sellers Brooks & Dunn and Mariah Carey. By the standards of “indie” music, it’s considered a rare, impressive feat for The New Pornographers to debut at #46 on The Billboard 200 chart. For Death Cab for Cutie to outsell Mariah Carey? Is pretty well unprecedented.
Listening to Plans, it’s patently obvious that Death Cab for Cutie felt beholden to the parameters of the “indie” trend. Which is not to say that Plans is a sell-out, which is the kind of reactionary nonsense that the hipper-than-thou hipsters have been spewing since the first tracks from the album were leaked on some of the more popular music blogs early in the summer. What those attacks ignore is that Death Cab for Cutie has always been one of the independent bands that, for whatever reason, were a safe target for ridicule. “Why should I care what you think of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah? You like Death Cab for Cutie, for godssakes.” Inherent in being a hipster, after all, is a cutting shallowness that’s exactly like the shallowness shown in claiming to be a lifelong fan of swing music for all of eight months before selling off those Brian Setzer Orchestra cds.
Rather than a sell-out, Plans sounds like Death Cab for Cutie, only moreso. It takes all of the existing elements of Death Cab for Cutie’s sound—- the even balance between lilting acoustic ballads, peppy little pop songs, and open aspirations to steal Coldplay’s epic arena-rock thunder, with frontman Ben Gibbard’s frequently insufferable pretty-privileged-white-kids-with-problems lyrics—- and exponentially magnifies them. People who liked Death Cab for Cutie either before they underscored Mischa Barton’s gaping untalent or who discovered them at precisely that moment will like Plans. People who found Death Cab for Cutie’s earlier albums cloying, twee, or otherwise pretentious will find Plans a chore to get through. People, like me, who found albums like We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes or 2003’s Transatlanticism inconsistent in their ability to inspire a reaction one way or the other may not really know what to think of Plans.
Which, obviously, begs the question of why I’m reviewing it, if I can’t decide what I think of it. It’s a similar situation to that #46-debuting album from The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema. In writing a review for that album (linked on my profile page, for those interested), I was able to arrive at a conclusion about it that, for several listens, had remained elusive, and that was the intended goal here. There’s not a whole lot objectively wrong with Plans, beyond Gibbard’s often indefensible words, so I can’t figure out why I just don’t like the album much at all.
In terms of its overall sound and production, Plans sounds like plenty of other music that I do like—- the comparisons to The Shins certainly don’t materialize out of the air, they’re based on the way both bands anchor even their longest songs in melodic hooks that sound effortlessly simple but which, given the immediacy of their catchiness and pop, are anything but simple to compose. The attempt at a post-dancepunk track in the vein of Franz Ferdinand or The Killers, poor choice of lead single “Soul Meets Body,” proves that Death Cab for Cutie are at their best when they adhere to their formula. In contrast, the stark, Gibbard-and-guitar ballad, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” highlights why this type of smart music found an audience, however small, in the first place, as it’s arguably the most potent song the band has released.
On balance, there are several tracks on which all of guitarist Chris Walla’s production tricks fail to overcome Gibbard’s lyrics. “Summer Skin,” for instance, concludes with the god-awful couplet, “Because the season’s change was a conduit / And we’d left our love in our summer skin,” ending a song that’s as bald-faced a plea for the high school kids’ affection as any song I’ve ever heard. “Someday You Will Be Loved,” like Coldplay’s “Fix You,” masks a bizarre and atonal misogynist streak, with Gibbard over-emoting lines like, “Just as the blood runs red down the needle and thread,” that amount to a song that’s off-puttingly smug. The essence of “Someday You Will be Loved” is, essentially, that someday the woman to whom he’s singing will get over him, but she won’t find love until then. Nice sentiment there, Gibbard. He uses sentiment in its most unfortunate ways on “What Sarah Said,” where the album’s overall theme of “love conquers death”—- and, my, what a remarkable, unique insight that is-— crystallizes in a song set in an ICU, where a dying woman says, “love is watching someone die,” which sounds like a platitude lifted from a Nora Ephron screenplay and which will likely turn up in 100,000 AOL Instant Messenger profiles this fall.
Overall, it’s the sheer obviousness of Gibbard’s writing that mars Plans-— “What Sarah Said,” for instance, was done infinitely better in “Casimir Pulaski Day” on Sufjan Stevens’ brilliant Illinois-— and keeps the album from earning more than just a passing recommendation. It isn’t a bad album, but, looking just within this particular style of indie-pop, 2005 has offered several other albums (from Fruit Bats, Nada Surf, John Vanderslice, and OK Go, to pick just a few) that boast just as compelling a sound but with stronger writing.
But not endorsing Plans is nonetheless an action that’s twinged with guilt, in that I’ve long believed that, if pop music were at all a meritocracy that isn’t subject to payola scandals, this precise style of pop, which is every bit as catchy as, say, Brandine’s “Toxic” and moreso than, say, Rob Thomas’ “Lonely No More,” would define the pop mainstream. And now that Death Cab for Cutie is poised to do precisely that, I can’t fully get behind them. Not because I don’t think they deserve a wide audience, but because that audience should recognize that they’re capable of producing better material than what they’ve offered on Plans. And I doubt that many of the people who bought Plans because of trendhopping will wonder if there really is a better alternative, leaving countless bands just as deserving of the sales figures to remain in the pop underground from which Death Cab have now escaped. I love this type of indie-pop, and I wonder if Plans is something of a death rattle.
Album Specs: Plans, Death Cab for Cutie.
Atlantic. #83884
09/06/2005.
01). “Marching Bands of Manhattan” (Gibbard), 4:12.
02). “Soul Meets Body” (Gibbard), 3:50.
03). “Summer Skin” (Gibbard / McGerr / Walla), 3:14.
04). “Different Names for the Same Thing” (Gibbard), 5:08.
05). “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” (Gibbard), 3:09.
06). “Your Heart is an Empty Room” (Gibbard), 3:39.
07). “Someday You Will Be Loved” (Gibbard / Walla), 3:11.
08). “Crooked Teeth” (Gibbard / Walla), 3:23.
09). “What Sarah Said” (Gibbard / Harmer), 6:20.
10). “Brothers on a Hotel Bed” (Gibbard / Walla), 4:31.
11). “Stable Song” (Gibbard), 3:42.
For Fans Of: The Shins, Coldplay, Rogue Wave, U2, Aimee Mann, Fruit Bats, Fountains of Wayne, Bright Eyes.
Seattle rockers Death Cab for Cutie return with their fifth album Plans. Produced by Death Cab s own Christopher Walla and recorded in upstate NY and ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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