New Death Cab, New Direction

Death Cab for Cutie will release their 7th full-length in the spring. So far, the band has said very little about the album, but a Spin Magazine interview-turned-article with Death Cab frontman Ben Gibbard proved to be very revealing.

The main point to take away is that this album will take Death Cab in a new direction. Gibbard said the album will be much more

keys based than guitar (the bulk of Death Cab's older work is heavily guitar based), and Gibbard described this one as "much more of a construction project." With Narrow Stairs, their last full-length, and others, the songs were simply constructed and conducive to playing live. Not this one, according to Gibbard.

The album has yet to be named and will feature 12 to 13 songs.

More importantly – and something I've been touching upon in my past few posts – is the album wont be as depressing lyrically. Narrow Stairs was a really depressing album, with songs like "You Can Do Better Than Me" and "The Ice is Getting Thinner." Gibbard said he wants to move away from that, away from the self loathing.

Please do! Death Cab you're my favorite band but sometimes you just bring me down. Maybe this album will have a little cheer. One can only hope.

But anyway, more keys, less depression. Sounds good to me.

The only negative is the band isn't as young as they used to be, they all have either wives or whole families, so the tour may not be all the extensive. But hey, I wouldn't want to leave Zoey Deschanel for 7 months anyway.

The Cat Knows Best

As my last post laid out, rock music can be downright depressing and lack silver lining.

But not this song.

"Plea From A Cat Named Virtue" by The Weakerthans, off Reconstruction Zone, is an incredibly cute and even more uplifting song written from the perspective of a cat, Virtue.

It's a song for those who find themselves in a relationship-inspired rut they can't get out of, and who better to get you out of your rut than a cat that couldn't care less? Cats don't care about anything, and people who find themselves in a rut could learn from that.

Here's the song below,

Notice how there's not one mention to the love interest that started it. Virtue knows it doesn't matter.

And Virtue knows this guy is essentially being a masochist, that there's no logic to it, no reason. The cat doesn't care why he's doing it. The "Self-defeating lies [he's] been repeating" aren't getting him anywhere.

Bitter songs, like the protagonist of this story – and most rock musicians – sing are pretty overrated, there's no comfort in them, and no way out. They drag you back into sadness. But a cat telling you to suck it up, have fun, and "let your losses dangle off"? Now that's a step in the right direction.

In any case, this is one of the most lyrically creative song I've heard in a while. On top of that, it urges the listener not to dwell on the past.

I'll meow to that.