These are strange times for Death Cab For Cutie. The success they’ve threatened for so long finally arrived in the wake of their fourth album Transatlanticism which, coupled with a guest appearance on The OC, saw their profile rocket. Major labels soon sat up and took notice with Atlantic eventually becoming the group’s new home.
Perhaps it’s understandable then that, with so little time for pause before returning to the recording studio, Plans finds the band brooding on what the future holds. It sounds like a bleak prospect too with death and the loss of loved ones providing the central themes throughout. The album begins promisingly, and a little breathlessly, with ‘Marching Bands Of Manhattan’ and ‘Soul Meets Body’ both bristling with a purposeful urgency and uncluttered guitar riffs that provide a natural foil for the band’s most potent weapon, Ben Gibbard’s wonderfully emotive voice.
The highlight of the album also makes use of Gibbard’s talent – ‘I Will Follow You Into The Dark’ is a gorgeous acoustic reflection on the frailty of life and love. The notional lynchpin of Plans is the affecting ‘What Sarah Said’, which showcases Gibbard’s talents as a lyricist when he creates a bittersweet tale of love and loss from the fumes of “piss and 409” in a hospital emergency room.
Unfortunately these highlights are in the minority and as the Plans progress it becomes increasingly frustrating to listen to with vague keyboard swirls replacing the clearly defined guitars, which ultimately leaves Gibbard’s voice stretched and thin as he tries to hold everything together