Two words: indie pop. Very indie pop. I’m surprised that We Have The Facts And We’re Voting Yes didn’t come with a free cardigan sweater and a pair of horn rimmed glasses. Not surprisingly, Death Cab was spawned from the abundant dork-core fields of the Pacific Northwest (they’re definitely in the general Built To Spill/Modest Mouse/764-Hero ballpark), and coincidentally, head Death Cabber Benjamin Gibbard’s vocals bear an unnerving resemblance to Elliott Smith’s. Perhaps the similarities between the notoriously soft-spoken Smith’s singing style and Gibbard’s unintentionally had an influence on the band, because Death Cab seem shy all of the sudden, a contrast to their fantastic previous album, Something About Airplanes, where swirling organ or chiming guitars would push the songs straight into the heavens. The band now seems more content to shuffle around delicate jangle-pop, save for the occasional energetic burst of indie racket, such as “Company Calls”, which wouldn’t sound entirely out of place on Silver Scooter’s Orleans Parish.As much as I miss the more jumpy, out-going Death Cab For Cutie, their excursions into glacially paced, wistful lullabies are more than satisfying. The hushed, melancholic tones of“Company Calls Epilogue” and “Little Fury Bugs” are particularly goosebump inducing. Verdict? A nice change of pace from an already great band. (erika)
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