{"id":39738,"date":"2006-04-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-04-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/plans-2\/"},"modified":"2006-04-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-04-26T00:00:00","slug":"plans-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/plans-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

When it comes to indie bands, few things can signify
\na downward spiral more quickly than switching to a major record
\nlabel. But to the chunk of Death Cab For Cutie’s fan base griping
\nabout the band selling out, they might be better suited to stewing
\nwith earlier releases and leaving the rest of us to enjoy
\nPlans<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Usually, I find myself avoiding bands so thoroughly
\nhyped (in Death Cab’s case, by constant name-checking on the
\nmind-bogglingly popular The OC<\/i>), if only because for the
\nmost part, that hype always seems to eclipse the album itself. But
\nthe slick, almost-reminiscent-of-R.E.M. first single “Soul Meets
\nBody” proved that the band were Seth Cohen’s standby for a reason,
\nand its instant likeability is why I can forgive the fact that it’s
\npermanently lodged itself in my head.<\/p>\n

For the most part, Plans<\/i>, Death Cab For
\nCutie’s fifth album, retains the best of the band’s previous
\nefforts, just with more polished production. It relies heavily on
\nlow-key, acoustic tracks, and forgoes the typical rocker single
\nwith the opener, “Marching Bands of Manhattan.” It’s an impressive
\nlead-in, featuring a few of my favorite lyrics committed to music:
\n“Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole \/ Just like a
\nfaucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound \/ But while you
\ndebate half empty or half full \/ It slowly rises; your love is
\ngonna drown”. And by the time you’ve reached the second track, the
\naforementioned “Soul Meets Body,” you’re already ingrained into
\nPlans<\/i> as it flows along.<\/p>\n

The next few tracks are gems as well: “Summer Skin,”
\nthe soft ode to lost summer love with its military snare to
\ncontrast and “Different Names For The Same Thing,” which both
\nsucceed largely due to the quiet force of their lyrics. After
\nreturning from his side project, The Postal Service, lead singer
\nand songwriter Ben Gibbard does what he does best, fusing
\never-present themes of unrequited love and loss into his sincere,
\nrelatable lyrics. The best evidence of this? The stark, somber “I
\nWill Follow You Into The Dark,” which relies solely on Gibbard’s
\nvoice and acoustic guitar to relay the inevitability of death.<\/p>\n

“Crooked Teeth” is the closest to a rock song that
\nDeath Cab For Cutie attempt; upbeat and immediately catchy, it’s
\neasy to see why it was chosen as the follow-up single. Following
\nthat is one of my favorites, “What Sarah Said” and its definitive
\nlines, “I’m thinking of what Sarah said, that ‘Love is watching
\nsomeone die’ \/ So who’s going to watch you die?…”. After all,
\nmost of us can relate somewhere to the similar hospital scene the
\nband paints, or at least the loss of a loved one.<\/p>\n

On Plans<\/i>, Death Cab For Cutie prove themselves
\ndeserved of their hype, a feat many bands can’t claim to have
\nachieved. They’ve created an album that’s not only likeable, but
\none that I’ve found to be irremovable from my stereo weeks after my
\nfirst spin of it.<\/p>\n<\/review><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":27259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7010],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-39738","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-death-cab-for-cutie","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39738"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}