Song Five

Ah, Death Cab for Cutie. Years back one of my husband's ex-bandmates burned him an entire collection of Death Cab for Cutie CDs. I can still see them, resting on our credenza in all their shiny silverness like a lost county waiting to be discovered. You know, Orange County, the O.C. Whither Adam Brody? He was so cute as Lane's boyfriend. And, poor Mischa Barton. She was nicely sporty as Evan Rachel Wood's girl crush on the long departed Once and Again. Now, she's much like the guitar playing skeleton on my son's night shirt. In his words, "Oh, that's scary."

But, I do digress. Song five is Death Cab for Cutie's "Soul Meets Body." The only DCC cut I own is on the Wicker Park soundtrack (don't ask). It's a spare acoustic cut. "Soul Meets Body" is far from spare. In the words of DCC's remarkably polished website, "Soul Meets Body" is their "chiming, addictive first single." Kind of starts like an Aztec Camera song. I like the stuff about the Greyhound Station, but I don't think anyone whose ever been to one would send anything there--ever. I get a Yes-feeling about the song that makes me a bit afraid of liking it too much (n.b., my husband disagrees). To my ears, the line between this tune and anything by the Polyphonic Spree (whom I like but find Jim Jones-scary, which may or may not be better than Jon Anderson-scary) is not especially thickly drawn. All told, "Soul Meets Body" is a peppy piece that has a very nerd-cool alternative sprezzatura about it, and I wouldn't send it to the bus station!

360 to go.