Death Cab for Cutie will not win over skeptics with new album

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Death Cab for Cutie’s new album finds the band moving further from their emotional indie rock roots and closer to a disappointingly generic, radio friendly pop/rock sound.

Originally released digitally late last month, “The Open Door” is the five-track EP follow up to last year’s “Narrow Stairs.” One of the things that has made Death Cab For Cutie such a beloved band, not only amongst overly-emotional adolescents but also diehard music fans, is their ability to balance the sentimentality of vocalist Ben Gibbard’s lyrical content and the innovation and creativity of their musical compositions.

2003′s “Transatlanticism” demonstrated this ability perfectly, resulting in the band’s strongest, most affecting and best-received release to date. 2005′s “Plans” came close, earning the band a Grammy nomination for the track “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” and winning the band a legion of new fans. Last year’s “Narrow Stairs,” while not quite as affecting as the two releases prior, found the band entering a decidedly darker, unfamiliar terrain.

Why, then, is “The Open Door” such a bland, uninspired release? Why does it seem like any other band in popular rock music could’ve written and recorded these five songs in a matter of weeks? Is this an indication of the future of Death Cab For Cutie, after a string of not-always-perfect-but-pretty-darn-strong releases?

Gone is the creative approach to instrumentation and composition that made the insecurity, confusion and heartbreak found in Gibbard’s lyrics that much more resounding. Instead, the band favors a more traditional guitar-bass-drums, verse-chorus-voice approach that does very little for themselves or the listener.

“A Diamond and a Tether,” the EP’s second track, is an acoustic-rock-music-by-numbers snoozer that doesn’t sound too far from Bright Eyes’s 2007 release, “Cassadaga,” which found that band taking a similar, more traditional approach.

Completely obvious and uninspired in its conception and execution, the song bounces from lackluster verse to familiar chorus and back again, offering nothing particularly interesting or grabbing. When Gibbard sings, “Take pity on me/I’m not half the man I used to be” in the song’s opening line, anyone familiar with his previous work will have to believe him.

Ironically enough, the best song on “The Open Door” is a demo of a track that appeared on “Narrow Stairs,” titled “Talking Bird.” It appears here with a stripped-down arrangement, featuring only Gibbard and a double-tracked ukulele.

The song’s delightful melody cuts quicker and deeper than it did on “Narrow Stairs,” thanks to the simplicity of the arrangement. Gibbard’s voice quivers and strains as he sings, “Oh, my talking bird/Though your feathers are tattered and furled/I’ll love you all your days/’Til your breath leaves your delicate frame.” The effect is quite beautiful, and gives the listener hope that maybe Death Cab hasn’t completely lost its ability to create innovative and emotional music, despite its simplicity.

Fans of Death Cab For Cutie may be put off by this rather underwhelming EP, and it certainly won’t win over any skeptics of the band’s sound. However, “The Open Door” is an interesting artifact in the progression of the biggest name in indie-rock and will hopefully remain just that – a thing of the past.

features@cm-life.com