Death Cab For Cutie - We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes

  by Cara Ross

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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Review

Death Cab for Cutie are a Bellingham, Washington (Pacific Northwestern) pop quartet, whose most excellent band name comes from the Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour”. And while melodically less fervent, the band are compared often to other Northwest bands in the same vein as “Built to Spill”. “We have the facts and we’re voting yes” is the follow-up to their promising debut: “Something about Airplanes”, and where that album left off, this one manages to pick up with greater depth. I ‘m a sucker for thoughtful lyrics, and Death Cab for Cutie have created such a thing of mellifluous pop beauty that the songs soar beyond the sound of the music itself. This album is a bit like being happily depressed, or conversely angry on Prozac. “We Have The Facts and We're Voting Yes” is about expressing suppressed emotions that you’re too exhausted to do anything about: “I’d squeeze a heart through my fingertip/but I type too slow to make expressions stick”. A sensitive record, its’ sounds are calm, crisp and clear, and then sometimes break into a crescendo of noise, only to fall back onto quieter moments again without seeming awkward. The songs themselves very often deal with the general apathy that takes place in relationships that are not working: “I thought that you would come to expect more…”, indulging lyrics that are complex, but also simple in the sense that they are completely in earnest, and delivered out of what you realize afterwards are especially dark places. Death Cab for Cutie, I have the facts and have placed my vote.

Track Listing:-

1 Title Track
2 The Employment Pages
3 For What Reason
4 Lowell, MA
5 405
6 Little Fury Bugs
7 Company Calls
8 Company Calls Epilogue
9 No Joy In Mudville
10 Scientist Studies