Thoughts on “Thank You for Today”
Hello, everyone. I am going to be revisiting this blog over the next few days in light of Death Cab for Cutie’s most recent release, Thank You for Today. For those that still follow this blog and re-post the old content, that’s super awesome, and I guess I’ll say I’m sorry that I disappeared - I just kind of outgrew the whole fan-boy stuff (though my love for Death Cab and music has not faded). I have some pretty strong opinions on their recent release (and my opinions on Kinstugi have also changed over the years). I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts and I’d love to hear what you all have to say as well. I guess I won’t tread lightly around the subject matter, but I think Thank You for Today is a really bad record and Death Cab for Cutie’s worst release yet. With that being said, please don’t think it’s because I’m butt-hurt about Chris Walla not being on the record, or that I’m not embracing change, because both of those points are not true. I also don’t think this is signaling the demise of Death Cab, quite the contrary. I’ll explain everything in this post, I promise. I guess I’ll begin by explaining my thoughts on Kinstugi and how they’ve changed since 2015, I’ll then go into talking about Thank You for Today, and then talk about each track on it individually. So, to start, I’ll say that I loved Kinstugi when it first came out. I definitely thought that it had its flaws, but it was still an amazing record all around, however, I don’t think Kinstugi has held up as well over the years. It still has produced some of the best Death Cab songs in my opinion (”No Room in Frame”), but over-all it’s just not a masterpiece. I have to be in a very specific mood for that record, if I have my iPod on shuffle (yes, I still use my iPod Classic), I tend to skip over Kinstugi tracks when they come up. It eventually became my least favorite Death Cab album - now my 2nd least favorite Death Cab album as Thank You for Today has taken that number 1 slot. For those that are curious, I’d say The Photo Album, We Have the Facts, and Transatlanticism are my top 3 Death Cab albums. Anyway, I find that every now and then, revisiting Kinstugi makes it a better experience. I just can’t listen to it all the time like I can with Death Cab’s other albums, and that’s alright. I know this might sound like me not embracing change since these are the “new-era” records, but I can prove that isn’t the case by saying the following statement: I love the shit out of Codes and Keys, which is what ushered in the “new-era” of Death Cab. I’d say Narrow Stairs is the last of the “classic” Death Cab sound that we all know and associate with them. I always said The Photo Album was Death Cab’s most underrated record, but I think it might actually be Codes and Keys, as Ben himself has mentioned that Codes is his least favorite of all their albums. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why some fans were put off by the change: the lyrics were weird and cryptic (different from the intimacy we’ve come to expect with Ben’s lyrics), making a sense of distance between song and listener on that album, also Ben was in an odd place in his life (marrying Zooey Deschanel and moving to California). However, I think it’s all of those elements that made it such a great and intriguing record. Also not to mention that the songs are catchy and tuneful and the synth use is unique. All I’m saying is that I’m not opposed to change. I embraced the shake-up that Codes and Keys provided. I love the different lyrical style Ben offered, and I think the cryptic aurora of that record, along with the weird point of Ben’s life (and the inevitable divorce), make it a very interesting record, maybe even more so nowadays. Now, where does this leave us with Thank You for Today? Well, musically speaking, the record is just fine. Sure, I do miss Chris Walla’s production, I think the new production lacks the depth of earlier albums, but the instrumentals are often very pretty, they’re catchy, and they get the job done. Where Thank You for Today completely tanks is in Ben Gibbard’s lyrics. This is the first time a Death Cab album has had lyrics that made me full-on cringe and stop me cold in my tracks. Kinstugi was drifting into cheesy territory (”Little Wanderer”, most notably), but Thank You for Today takes it to a whole new level of lyrical cliches. Most every song seems to mention oceans, skies, stars, or lights of some kind - did Ben Gibbard or Owl City write these songs? Remember when everyone criticized Owl City of ripping off The Postal Service? And now Ben’s lyrics sound like Adam Young himself could have written them. I think now would be a good point to talk about every track on Thank You for Today individually. I’ll add more of my points and explain my thoughts more in-depth on the track-by-track analysis. 1.) I Dreamt We Spoke Again
With Kinstugi cataloging the divorce catastrophe, but Ben now being happily re-married, I really like how Thank You for Today, opens with a song that, I’m assuming, is about a dream involving Zooey Deschanel. Even though he has moved on, these things can haunt you for a long time. It’s a great bridge between the last album and this one. The filters over Ben’s voice make him sound truly broken, further emphasizing the mood and emotion of the song. However, overall I think the song is a bit under-cooked. It doesn’t really say much at all, and the “head” / “said” rhyme scheme of the chorus is quite underwhelming, but Jason’s drum fills sure are tasteful and the titular lyrics are very catchy.
2.) Summer Years
The best song on the album. It cuts open with a hyper-fast drum beat and then eventually a moody guitar lick comes in to make a complimentary pair. The lyrics are sung slowly, which paired with the fast instrumentals, makes for a very haunting song. “El Dorado” on Kinstugi did the exact same thing: fast drums but slow lyrics, which also added up to a haunting number on that album. However, “Summer Years” does it much better, showcasing the potential growth that can hopefully pan out better on their next record. This song stopped me in my tracks, but for all of the right reasons.
3.) Gold Rush
Okay, to put it simply, this song would be EXPONENTIALLY better if it didn’t keep repeating “gold rush” throughout the whole song. The repetition of that one line completely kills the song and stops me from being able to take it seriously. Since this was the first single from the album, it left me feeling very conflicted. While I appreciated Ben writing about something other than love (something the band is very much in need of), the lyrics still don’t feel all that special. The “requiem for a skyline” lyric is wonderful, but most of the other lines don’t amount to much...and this brings me to probably my biggest complaint with the lyrics: they feel very nondescript, vague, safe, and forced, which makes them come off as uninspired...but at least for “Gold Rush’s” case, Ben actually feels very strongly about the topic of gentrification in his city of Seattle, but it doesn’t quite show through all the way. With that being said, it’s not the worst offender on the album. And I do love the sample use here and the driving beat. It feels very summer-y and I can dig that.
4.) Your Hurricane
Probably the worst Death Cab for Cutie song ever. While that might sound a bit harsh, these lyrics are just terrible. The line: “you used to be a delicate kid, a lonely fish in a sea full of squid” literally made me physically cringe on my first listen. Every time I listen to this song, I wince when that line comes up and get secondhand embarrassment. It doesn’t help that the rest of the lyrics are just as uninspired with some pretty lame rhymes. The song does have a melancholy groove, but that’s about all I will give it.
5.) When We Drive
The song opens up with an 80s pop sensibility, coupled with an almost shoegaze-esque guitar floating in the background, which makes for a very saccharine instrumental. I love the hell out of pop music and I’m totally fine with Death Cab “driving” in that direction, but I just wish it felt more inspired. Again, instrumentally the song is nice, but the lyrics only offer up another generic and lame love song. I will say the line about not needing your partner to be faithful until the end, only needing them to be a friend, is mature and a much appreciated sense of realism in the cannon of overly-affectionate love songs in the music world. There’s also another line on this song about loving how your “sun tan is only on one side,” which I’m assuming was supposed to be a little coy inject of humor, but it just comes off as awkward. I love when songwriter’s can balance humor in their lyrics and not always take themselves so seriously, but if that line was supposed to be a joke, it certainly did not land.
6.) Autumn Love
My favorite season! which the song captures the vibe of very well. The main guitar lead is sweet and catchy, even if it sounds like it could be in the next Hyundai commercial. But even then, the song sounds as if you’re driving through the autumn woods, so at least it fits, I guess. The opening line of the song says: “No more lighthouses to deceive me,” which I think is a nice call-back to “Little Wanderer” from Kintsugi where Ben refers to himself as a lighthouse for, I’m assuming, Zooey Deschanel, as she’s wandering across the sea. But, inevitably, the chorus proves to be underwhelming, impairing the song from reaching any further heights. All we are left with in this song is a nice little call-back to Death Cab from their former days, but it almost feels as if they’re a band inspired by Death Cab trying to be like Death Cab.
7.) Northern Lights
This song is alright. I don’t really have too much to say on either side of the fence, but that makes it feel kind of middling and make it not stick out too much. Ben’s voice does sound nice on the chorus though. I could see this track growing on me more.
8.) You Moved Away
This song pretty much sums up all of my qualms with Ben Gibbard’s weak songwriting on this record. At face value, it sounds like a song about an ex moving away, however, it’s about a beloved artist that Ben was a fan of, moving back to his hometown (signaling how the art culture in Seattle is dying, which compliments Ben’s laments on “Gold Rush”). But again, the lyrics are so nondescript and vague that you would never really be able to tell the true meaning of the song. The only reason I know what it’s really about is because I read an article before the record’s release where Ben talked about this song’s meaning. And don’t get me wrong, songs don’t need to spoon feed what they’re about. One of my favorite things is trying to uncover the meanings behind songs that don’t spoon feed, but the ambiguity of the lyrics in those kinds of songs need to be rewarding once the meaning is discovered - and that is not the reality with “You Moved Away.” And it really is such a shame because, as I said earlier, Death Cab is really in need of songs with different and unique song topics. This could have been such a special and unique song but it completely misses the mark. What Ben chooses to focus on lyrically here, again, make it sound like it’s about an ex. It’s filled with lyrical cliches and some lame and rather clunky rhymes. If Ben chose to be more specific and give better details instead of playing it safe, this could have been a truly wonderful song in the DCFC cannon.
9.) Near/Far
This song is not that bad and one of the better tracks on the album. It’s got a driving chord progression but there’s a sense of light melancholy that makes for a nice little tune. I enjoy the pulsing pop synths in the background and the lyrics aren’t that bad either. I’m sure this one will grow on me more in time as well.
10.) 60 & Punk
Closing an album with a down-tempo piano-driven tune will never go out of style in my opinion - it’s just like fog in a cemetery in an old black-and-white horror film, it’s classic. That’s what this song offers, which is refreshing to here after all of the driving and mid-tempo numbers this album is filled with. I also enjoy the old and out of tune piano effect as well, it emphasizes one of the song’s main themes: aging. And while my main critique of Thank You for Today, is Ben Gibbard’s lack of depth and detail in his lyrics this time around, “60 & Punk” does begin to salvage some of that. This song is about an old punk-rock hero of Ben’s, who is now old and struggling with alcohol addiction (something Ben also struggled with but eventually overcame). Although Ben never mentions this hero’s name (which is understandable given the context), he mentions specific moments, like meeting this person for the first time when Ben was 22. In getting older and seeing an old hero get knocked off the pedestal that they once stood upon, it offers some introspective gems from Ben on this track about the hero and Ben himself. Not to mention this track has a somber and catchy chorus to boot. The song isn’t a masterpiece but it’s the perfect closer to this album and brings me to my final thoughts on this record and Death Cab for Cutie themselves.
Final Thoughts
Even though my opinions on Thank You for Today are very negative, all is far from being lost with Death Cab as a whole. This is the first record without any contributions from Chris Walla, so I see that the band is still in a transitional period. And while there are only fragments of good moments on this record, there are still promising qualities. Sure, they did miss the mark consistently, but it doesn’t mean that they will again on their next endeavor...and to be honest, with that thought in mind, I think I am the most excited for a new Death Cab record than I’ve ever been. I really want the band to do something different and new and I have faith that they can pull it off.
Please let me know what you guys thought as well, I’d love to hear your opinions!
- Sam