I’m a big fan of musical narratives and arcs, the way songs can work together to create a story, or a mood. This is one of the reasons I’m still a big hold-out on the “downloading only the songs you like” method of listening to music. If an artist is worth his/her salt, they’re putting out full records that are meant to be appreciated as works. The other night, I was listening to one of my top 200 favorite records of all time [this is a high bar for me, you see], Death Cab For Cutie’s Transatlanticism, and as I was driving, I heard three tracks, which obviously run into each other as an extended piece, but which I had never really taken the time to notice that way. And I was floored. The songs are “Tiny Vessels,” “Transatlanticism,” and “Passenger Seat.” The first and third are shorter, almost as beautiful, unique bookends to the epic song in the middle. So I’ll post those this week, in order. If you haven’t heard them, I encourage you to hit play on the next song as quickly as you can after one ends, to get the full effect.
A whole story is told in those songs. Perhaps different sections of the same snapshot. Let’s go with that.
