Tag: Ben Gibbard

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Death Cab For Cutie “Transatlanticism”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Death Cab For Cutie
Album Title: Transatlanticism
Year released: 2003
Year reissued: 2013
Details: Gatefold sleeve, 10th anniversary, 2 x 180 gram, 12-page booklet

The skinny: I finally got around to purchasing a full pass to this year’s Ottawa Bluesfest and I can’t even really explain why I procrastinated so much. The organizer’s typically do a pretty good job of putting together a diverse lineup that tries to please everyone to some extent (and invariably, disappoints many) but this year’s lineup suits my own personal tastes better than it has for many years now. There’s at least one act on each of the festival’s nine days that I really want to see*. And one of the acts I’m most looking forward to is Death Cab for Cutie, who I saw live for the first time more than 15 years ago but haven’t seen since. This performance is part of the tour supporting last year’s “Asphalt meadows” but they are also touring in the fall to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their now iconic 4th album, “Translatlanticism”. I can’t even believe that I purchased the copy of this very same record for my vinyl shelves a decade ago: a 10th anniversary, 180-gram double LP edition, complete with a gatefold sleeve and a lovely 12-page booklet. This was procured back when my collection was still in its infancy and probably just around the time that I finally bought my turntable. “Transatlanticism” was a no-hesitation purchase because it was my introduction to this great band upon its initial release and with all the albums they’ve released since, it’s one I return to time and time again.

Standout track: “The sound of settling”

*But I’ill likely have to miss a night or two in the interest of conserving energy.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Various artists “Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight'”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Various artists
Album Title: Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’
Year released: 2019
Details: Double LP, 24 page booklet

The skinny: Back in the middle of January, I went on a bit of a Frightened Rabbit kick, posting photos from the one time I saw them live in 2013, as well as ‘Vinyl love’ instalments for the albums “The midnight organ fight”, “Pedestrian verse”, and “Painting of a panic attack”, and all of this in the span of a week. However, I waited until today, what is widely-acknowledged as the second anniversary of frontman Scott Hutchison’s death, to post this, the only other Frightened Rabbit-related vinyl in my collection (for now). This tribute to “The midnight organ fight” was in the works before Hutchison’s suicide, the recording of the album’s tunes by friends of the band were already mostly recorded to celebrate the album’s 10th anniversary, but the remaining band members decided to refocus its release after the fact. They named it for the mental health charity launched in honour of Hutchison and donated a portion of the album’s sales to it as well. The album includes covers by Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Canadian indie rockers Wintersleep, fellow Scots The Twilight Sad, dream-poppers Daughter, and the lovely one below by Julien Baker. This heavyweight double-LP pressing includes a 24-page booklet filled with words and memories supplied by other members of Frightened Rabbit and by the artists that performed the covers (a few of these are shown above). And reading these really hits you hard and you can’t escape the feeling that we’ve lost a great songwriter. We miss you Scott.

Standout track: “The modern leper” as covered by Julien Baker

Categories
Tunes

100 best covers: #87 Amy Millan “I will follow you into the dark”

<< #88    |    #86 >>

…And speaking of Death Cab for Cutie… Here’s a cover by Stars vocalist Amy Milan of the standout single from Death Cab for Cutie’s fifth album, “Plans”.

The original was recorded by frontman Ben Gibbard by himself on guitar, using just the one microphone. The result is a quiet and lonely sounding number that is kind of morbid on first listen but is quite romantic upon further reflection. The idea that one loves the other so much that he or she would them even into death to keep them company is quite lovely. “I will follow you into the dark” didn’t originally chart very high as a single but has since become one of the band’s best-selling, still receives quite a bit of radio play, and has been covered many times over by various artists.

Canadian songstress Amy Millan covered it a mere four years after the original’s initial release for her second solo record, “Masters of the burial”. Hers is slightly longer than the original’s three minutes and markedly different in style and tone. A full band backs her. The use of banjo and lap steel giving it a decidedly old time country feel. Her soft touch on vocals is more upbeat than in Gibbard’s original but definitely lends the subject matter the weight it deserves.

“If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no’s on their vacancy signs
If there’s no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark”

I am a fan of both of these. In fact, I refuse to pick a favourite. Thoughts?

The cover:

The original:

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.