For your consideration: a wildly successful indie rock band with a legion of followers on an equally successful, highly credible independent label makes the jump to major-label powerhouse Atlantic, leading to much chagrin and speculation among its fans as they awaited with bated breath for what would happen to the group. The result was
For Your Own Special Sweetheart, inarguably the most polished and fully realized album of Dischord alumnus
Jawbox's career. Fast forward ten years and you find Barsuk's
Death Cab for Cutie in the same position, making the same move. A new label, a larger crowd (thanks to their repeated appearances on The OC), and a side project of
Ben Gibbard (
Postal Service) that very well overshadowed the success of his main project. All of the moves were perfectly aligned to take the little band that could into the rock stratosphere. But the difference between
Jawbox and
Death Cab for Cutie was that
For Your Own Special Sweetheart went on to be the finest release of
Jawbox's canon.
Plans definitely comes close to that mark, but falls slightly short. In comparison to the dry, raw production of
Transatlanticism,
Plans is warm and polished, the kind of album expected from a band obsessed with the sound of
Fleetwood Mac's
Rumours.
Chris Walla does an amazing job bringing the group's sound in a different direction than before without compromising too many of the things that made the group sound great to begin with. Thematically,
Plans is the
Death Cab for Cutie suitable for graduate students, world-weary and wiser from their experiences, realizing they can no longer be love-starved 20-somethings without a clue yet hopelessly cursed to face the same issues. And there's merit to be had in acknowledging that maturity, for even
blink-182 figured out their age and released their "serious" album.
Gibbard's wispy, poetic lyrics (which could easily have been stolen from
Aimee Mann's dressing room while she wasn't looking) still remain an artery from which the rest of the band beats and are some of his finest ever, but this time around the band aligns itself more with a series of emotional murmurs rather than a heart attack. The album winds its way from one ballad to the next, with brief stopovers at moderately up-tempo numbers to help break things up a bit. And it's this sense of resignation that either makes or breaks the album, depending on which
Death Cab for Cutie is your favorite: the melancholic, hopeless romantic or the one who wears its heart on its sleeve with unbridled energy and passion. If
Transatlanticism was
Gibbard's Pet Sounds and
Postal Service was SMiLE, then this is definitely
Wild Honey, loved by adoring new fans and those who enjoy the ballads. But those hoping for a bit more -- for the bar to be raised higher -- might find this a mildly predictable exercise in
Gibbard exorcising the demons of
Phil Collins that haunt him.
Plans is both a destination and a transitional journey for the group, one that sees the fulfillment of years of toiling away to develop their ideas and sound. But it's with the completion of those ideas that band is faced with a new set of crossroads and challenges to tread upon: to stay the course and suffer stagnation or try something bold and daringly new with their future. Which road they'll take will make all the difference. ~ Rob Theakston