Unlike Yglesias, I (1) picked up the new Death Cab album right around when it came out and (2) found it pretty much intolerable. I retain a nostalgic affection for their first couple albums, and stuff as recent as Transatlanticism holds up well enough. But on these last two, I tend to find the music bubble-gummy (not sure whether that’s them or my taste changing, but in any event, not in itself a dealbreaker), Ben Gibbard’s reedy voice grating, and the lyrics downright embarrassing.  The latter are really what kill it for me. You get all of thirty seconds into the first track, thinking it might not be too bad, and they drop this on you:

I descended a dusty gravel ridge

Beneath the Bixby Canyon Bridge

Until I eventually arrived

To the place where your soul had died.

Really, now, guys? Are we gunning for a slot on the soundtrack of Richard Curtis’ next masterpiece? I won’t even quote “I Will Possess Your Heart,” since you can probably infer the level of Hallmarkitude from the fact that they called it “I Will Possess Your Heart.” I will concede, however, that the right remixer could strip the vocals and the ten minute wanks and recut this into a pretty good five or six song instrumental album.