“Home Is A Fire,” the second track we have heard from Death Cab for Cutie’s upcoming full-length, “Codes & Keys,” will no doubt garner significant comparisons to Ben Gibbard’s little side-project, The Postal Service. These comparisons will be inaccurate. ”Home Is A Fire” is a track built on skittering percussion and understated vocals, not cut-up electronics and Gibbard’s oft-angelic croon. It is a very un-Death Cab song, but that does not automatically lump it in with The Postal Service’s work; instead, it falls in the gap between the two bands. And at a point in their career where they are being referred to as Life Cab for Mediocrity on Twitter, “Home Is A Fire” is a pleasantly successful experiment for a band that had grown too comfortable in its summer skin.
Death Cab has always worn its heart on its sleeve and has endeared itself to its fans in the process. As the band has aged, though, they have struggled to tug on their listener’s heartstrings quite as strongly. “Narrow Stairs” found Death Cab trying a little too hard to grasp onto their fans’ hearts, but they telegraphed their moves, and the record ultimately fell flat. It is therefore refreshing to hear Death Cab tackle a song with less emotionality and more subtlety, much like they did on their earlier albums. More is not always better, after all.
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Death Cab For Cutie – “Home Is A Fire” by Some Kind of Awesome
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