IN REVIEW: Death Cab for Cutie - "Thank You for Today"

Following founding guitarist Chris Walla's departure, many speculated what Death Cab for Cutie's music might sound like going forward. Would we get a deluge of synth and keyboards, like we did on 2011's Codes and Keys? Maybe they'd retreat into the sparser sounds of their earlier work. Perhaps it would be "none of the above", and Death Cab would go off in a direction they'd never gone before.

As it turns out, our answer is "a little bit of all of that"; pianos and keyboards do play a bigger role, but there are tasteful guitars running throughout to prevent a repeat of the blandness of Codes and Keys. There are slight glimpses into past glories, with a chord here and a particularly effective lyric there. Then, there are sidesteps like Summer Years, the stuttering backbeat and shimmering guitar for which lends the song a Radiohead vibe.

Unsurprisingly then, Thank You for Today is just a bit of a mess, though admittedly a more engaging listen for it. It's as though they have ideas of where to go musically without Walla, but aren't quite ready to commit to how they're going to get there. Still, Death Cab have proven that they can create quality material in their post-Walla existence and, even if it's a hit-and-miss affair, Thank You for Today also proves that there's still thrills to be extracted from this band more than two decades into their journey.

August 12, 2018 • Atlantic
Highlights Summer Years • Your Hurricane • Autumn Love