40. Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism - 2003

This is one of my all-time favorite records. The quality of the music, lyrics and execution is extraordinary. The 1st track, "New Year" leads one to believe that there may be a harder edge to this record. In all actuality, the only other real rocker on this LP is the dark and fevered "We Looked Like Giants". The album is balanced in terms of tempo between the slow and upbeat, not that anyone would notice such a thing when the listener is too busy paying devoted attention to the beauty of this recording. This beauty is probably best experienced on the title track, which is an amazing climb that leaves the listener mesmerized.  Their focus is probably most effective on the three stand out tracks. On what is such a strong album from start to finish, it's hard to name which are the strongest, but in my opinion they are "Title and Registration", "We Looked Like Giants" and "A Lack of Color". Dealing with remembrance, loss and regret are common themes in music, but rarely are they expressed with this kind of skill. "Title and Registration" talks around the regret of love lost with sharp observations to provide distractions that fall away by the songs ending to reveal the circumstances that the protagonist finds himself in. "We Looked  Like Giants" has moments that I can only describe as manic as the remembrance unfolds. The clever  observations and acoustics that find their way to the regret at the heart of "A Lack of Color" reminds me so much of a young Paul Simon. This is music for people looking for something more than the garbage of top 40 radio. Intelligent, thoughtful and real, these song express themes that we can all identify with in ways that touch us enough to bring out emotions that we might not have felt for quite some time. This is one of my favorite records.