Growing out of bands

There are some bands that transcend your personality shifts, changing values, and modulating tastes...

And these are probably the bands with which your connection is so intense and intertwined with your essence that there's no way you are going to move past them, because they are moving faster than your own intellect.

On the other hand, there are bands that had a once exalted position in the pantheon of permanent artists who fall from grace, yet seem to eventually recover...

When they come back into your life, you wish you hadn't parted on such bad terms before - though an album like Around the Sun will do that to you...

There's another type of band - one that fits like a glove on a particularly level of your consciousness, but not as intensely as the first category. These bands may stay "true to their roots" so to speak, but that is indeed why you love them so much.

I'm certainly not one of the people who was surprised by Pearl Jam's latest "comeback" album. I knew they'd just keep cranking out good, interesting music powered by skilled musicians and a guy with one hell of a set of pipes.

There is an unfortunate fourth category - bands that stay the same, while you don't. And no matter how badly you want to continue to love these bands, they just can't keep up with the moderate personal progress that you've made in your life...

Jimmy Eat World was the latest and most tragic entry in this group, as it is very difficult to see them every making an album that is relevant to my life ever again. This pains me deeply. But I have to call a spade a spade.

And now it's time to add another band - Death Cab For Cutie.

This is tough, obviously, because they are my wife's favorite band.

But I've heard their new album enough times now, and I realized why they agitate me to the degree they do - Ben Gibbard is still singing about the problems I had in my early twenties. It's all uncertainty and angst about who loves you and who doesn't. And frankly, I think that's juvenile. Call me an elitist (I'd be in good company given the recent comments about Obama), but I can't be moved anymore by lines like "You can do better than me, but I can't do better than you." I'm married. I have a job I like a lot. That feeling of uncertainty, that sense that your life is somehow a disappointment, the sneaking suspicion that you'll never feel things the way you used to - that's all gone for me now. Simply put, Ben Gibbard is still singing about the same things he always has - and those things don't apply to me anymore.

I used to be a staunch Gibbard supporter. I liked the long, elliptical lyrics that he crafted. I liked his flowing melodies. The only problem is that I grew (not very much even), and the band has stayed the same. Let's look at some lyrics from their latest album to illustrate:

I cursed myself for being surprised / That this didn't play like it did in my mind.

Now, I'm not going to take the trouble of looking for specific lines from other Death Cab songs, but anyone vaguely interested in the band knows that this is Ben's only subject matter - disappointment. Sure, he'll throw in a love song here or there, but they are always tinged with bitterness and regret. I can't say that I feel bitter or regretful when it comes to matters of love anymore.

She holds a smile like someone would hold a crying child

Here's another lyric that will be familiar to DCFC fans. The awkward simile. The only problem is that these similes are getting clumsier and worse with each passing album.

We're not the same, dear, as we used to be. The seasons have changed and so have we.

I don't think I have to say much about these lyrics. Not only are they painful obvious and uninspired, the comparison to the seasons is so banal I'm wondering if Ben is getting lazy or is trying to poke fun at the trite lyrics that pervade pop music.

Moving on to the music that back these lyrics, we find the same problems. Ostensibly, Narrow Stairs is an "off-the-cuff" and "energetic" return to albums like Transatlanticism and The Photo Album after the stale, muzak-esque Plans. This is all pretense though. The music is still not up to the level of creativity seen in DCFC's older work, simply because they were never a great band, they were merely very good. You saw the potential there, but with each passing album, I feel like I'm watching a highly touted NFL prospect blow their once unlimited talent on cheap hookers and cocaine.