just ran thru their discog (in order) with my partner and I definitely have a lot of thoughts on each record and their career arc in general, and overall I am walking away feeling more positive about their discography *as a whole*. I may or may not gather those thoughts and post them here but regardless I def felt like chiming in on this one finally to say I think it’s their best since Narrow Stairs, pretty handily tbh, and I would argue NS even has the lower lows between the two (personally never loved the back-to-back of Talking Bird and You Can Do Better Than Me, the songs are fine on their own I suppose but imo they really hamper the album’s momentum together), but the highs on NS (most of the rest of the record ha) put it a notch above AM for me. Foxglove is def my favorite here and I would probably say one of my fav songs by the band period. I like TYFT a considerable amount— more than C&K and Kintsugi— but I feel like the new(er) lineup really settled into their roles here and are just writing stronger, more interesting songs. they’re looking forward, while also (to my ears at least) giving glimpses of/paying homage to what made DCFC of old so beloved, whereas the last few albums I think lost a bit of what made them special in favor of, idk, keeping up with the trends of contemporary alt music? nothing wrong with that but it’s never gonna be my preferred mode for a band to operate in. I think this manages to bring the best of their modern and aughts material together in a way that really works for me.
Yeah really interesting point. There are a lot of bands who have been going for 20 + years that most of us would still consider popular but aren't really charting any more. Off the top of my head, the last Goo Goo Dolls and Simple Plan albums didn't even chart on the top 200. Jimmy Eat World debuted at 90-something. Clearly Death Cab and those others can still sell a great amount of tickets so the fans are still there. Just people perhaps less interested in new material at this stage and of course wider consumer and industry habits.
I skipped seeing them on this tour because just one song from Transatlanticism is a cardinal sin that stays between them and whatever higher power that may or may not exist But I do actually want to catch them next tour for the first time since 2015
I didn’t get tickets for this tour since I wasn’t anticipating liking this release. Happy to be wrong. Sort of
It's 43 degrees this morning and this thing is HITTING, especially riding the bus to work and walking to and from the stops in that morning chill. Really, really growing on me. I love the synth on this thing.
“the winters in Saskatchewan are so cold” been thinking about that moment/have had it stuck in my head since my listen the other night.
Loved this band even when they were playing it safe, but I did not know/am so glad they still had a song like "I Miss Strangers" in them. This album feels vital in a way they've been missing for almost a decade
After listening to this for a few weeks I’ve come around to agreeing that this is indeed their best since Narrow Stairs. I thought TYFT was as good as gets for them now and I’m a Kintsugi/Codes and Keys apologist so it’s great to know that they still got it.
Listened to this today on a beautiful fall color drive back home from Detroit/last night’s Gaslight Anthem show. It was perfect for that.
I couldnt make the NYC show last week (already had tickets to see The Maine), but I was shocked by how many free ticket offers I was given for it. And then talking to people who went to the show it sounds like it wasn't even half full. Weird, they played this venue in 2019 and almost sold it out, and a few years prior to that they almost sold out MSG. Low ticket sales, plus this album debuting at #60, has really got me scratching my head. You'd think with this being their best album in a decade plus the demand that built up from the pandemic hiatus they'd be riding a wave.
Boston show was decently full and the crowd was quite good, although didn’t seem like a ton of people knew the new stuff but that seems common with most bands these days
I honestly had no clue about the new material. I'm not super into what I'm hearing so far, but I'll give the new record a few spins to see if it connects.