This album feels very Narrow Stairs-adjacent in the same way Thank You For Today feels so much like Plans to me. The more I listen, the more I think it's they're best since NS. Very replayable.
Yeah the more I listen to it different tracks start to standout, I am now absolutely obsessed with pep talk
I'm enjoying this album way more than I expected, probably spun it 5 or so times since Friday. also Gold Rush sucks and tainted everything about that album for me, I should really try the rest of it again sometime.
"Pep Talk" doesn't really do anything for me yet. Not a bad song or anything, just hasn't hit like the others. But the album continues to grow so we'll see
Without debating the quality of "Gold Rush", I will say it sounds nothing like the rest of that album. It's a super weird anomaly in their catalog. Some of the new record has hints of TYFT actually!
This is above Asphalt Meadows for me now. Pretty much every song has clicked in and revealed itself to be peak Mr. Gibbard vocals/lyrics and peak modern DCFC.
YES justice for Wheat Like Waves! And while we're at it, same for Gibbard's solo tune "Broken Yolk in Western Sky"
Just since it keeps coming up, I have never even considered disliking "Gold Rush" and the abject hatred for that song always throws me off. Like, what is about the repetition of the title that makes people dislike it much? It's a cool vibe. Not my favorite on the record, but it sounds so nice to me. I think Thank You for Today as a whole is a top 5 Death Cab album. It's not trying to be the band's masterpiece, just gives you ten simple bangers that make it easy to press replay when it's over.
My hot take is that the repetition of the words "gold rush" in the song "Gold Rush" is not any more or less annoying than the repetition of the word "highway" in "A Movie Script Ending," but people are not ready for that discussion.
The whole thing with Gold Rush is, as a track, it’s so corny. And every choice they made about it feels like they were made as a challenge to each other the amp up the corn. The whispers in the intro, the repeat of the song’s title in the verses, the pleaaaaaaassseeeeeee don’t change backing vocals, the random slide guitar, etc. all converge on the idea that this should be the corniest thing they could put out about one of the topics that’s so easy to be corny about (things change over time). This was written after 4 hate listens in a row to really get in there and understand my disdain.
Just to echo what everyone and myself have already said, but damn I am loving this album. Crazy how much I've listened to it in full in just 3 days. It works for sunny car rides with the windows down, it works (mostly) at the gym, and it works as background music while working.
My hot take is that Riptides is hands down the Gold Rush of the new album. It's easily the weakest and most boring song on the album, and truly a baffling choice for a lead single. Aside from that song, I haven't enjoyed a new Death cab record so much in years. This is very good.
I remember disliking Riptides a fair bit on first listen but I've grown to really like it. The slow build up throughout the song is very satisfying by the end.