It’s Sunday on the weekend between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and everything feels, I don’t know, a little laid back. At home, at work, everywhere, right? What better time to take it easy and relax, what do you say? Why don’t you relax with us as we listen to one of our favorite albums, Plans, by Death Cab For Cutie, courtesy of youtube, hmm?

Track 01: “Marching Bands Of Manhattan“

“It’s true what you said, that I live like a hermit in my own head,” is a line from this song that I’ve never been able to shake, honestly. On an album that is so very much about the Big Issues such as death and loss, I think this line is incredibly important. Because after you lose something, where do you go?

Track 02: “Soul Meets Body“

This was the first single from the album and, of course, leaked early onto the internet. The record label was understandably displeased with that development, but Ben Gibbard was quoted as saying, “I love it. The more anarchy we can give the record industry, the better.” Personally, I think that’s the perfect thing for the lead singer of a much beloved and respected indie band to say about the first single from their major label debut, don’t you?

Track 03: “Summer Skin“

Much the same way that Radiohead couldn’t possibly exist in it’s current form without Thom Yorke’s voice, the same could be said for Ben Gibbard‘s voice. Not just his lyrics, mind you, but his voice too. It holds the entire package together, buoying it nicely on his foundation of fragile intimacy and a boyish sense of romance, both idealized and heartbreakingly remembered.

Track 04: “Different Names For The Same Thing“

This is was (before the lawyers snuck in there) the version of Directions, the video album that followed shortly after the release of Plans, and which gave 12 different directors a chance to interpret the songs their own way. This video is directed by Autumn de Wilde. The video is quirky and silly, but it’s always really fun and I like it a lot.

Track 05: “I Will Follow You Into The Dark“

This was the third single released from the album, and probably the best known song from the album. And while it’s not a title track, it’s almost certainly the mission statement of the album. Of the song, Ben Gibbard said this: “It’s the just idea that what if somebody dies and we’re just floating, just stumbling around in infinite darkness, and I’m just trying to find some kind of spiritual kind of peace with myself, and the world.” This is a home made video I found online, and there’s two official videos, one for the single release featuring Gibbard playing the song on his band while an expanding dark abyss begins growing on the floor of his apartment and one from Directions. I didn’t find the the single version, but if you can, I highly recommend watching it.

Track 06: “Your Heart Is An Empty Room“

“And all you see is where else you can be when you’re at home,” the song says. “On on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone.” A perfect description of self-enforced loneliness, perhaps?

Track 07: “Someday You Will Be Loved“

To me this sounds very much like a Decemberists’ song and it’s a lovely reverse on what you think you’re in for with the somewhat sappy title because the boy is leaving the girl here, telling her that soon she’ll forget about him when someone new comes along, which seems to be quite the opposite of the normal pop song, no? Anyways, this is the Ace Norton video for the song from Directions.

Track 08: “Crooked Teeth“

This was the second single from the album and is definitely one of my favorites of not just this album, but the band’s entire catalog, and highlights the band’s almost genius ability to combine melancholy with a nice sense of rocking about. “You can’t find nothing at all if there was nothing there all along.”

Track 09: “What Sarah Said“

Wow, so much to say about this song. This song is possibly my favorite song off the album and by the band as a whole. It’s also the closest thing to a title track on this album and I’ll share with you here what Ben Gibbard said about the album as a whole: “I don’t think there’s necessarily a story, but there’s definitely a theme here. One of my favorite kind of dark jokes is, ‘How do you make God laugh? You make a plan.’ Nobody ever makes a plan that they’re gonna go out and get hit by a car. A plan almost always has a happy ending. Essentially every plan is a tiny prayer to Father Time. I really like the idea of a plan not being seen as having definite outcomes, but more like little wishes.”

Track 10: “Brothers On A Hotel Bed“

The first line of this song is “You may tire of me as our December sun is setting because I’m not who I used to be.” I always seem to think this is the last song of the album when I listen to it, but it’s not, even though it would be a perfect one. Also, when I listen to this song I can’t help think of the line “If the silence takes you, then I hope it takes me too,” from “Soul Meets Body.” Above is the video for the song from Directions, directed by Josh Victor Rothstein.

Track 11: “Stable Song“

Despite my always thinking the previous track is the last song on this album, this is the last song, and it’s a beautiful one. I’ll end this with how drummer Jason McGerr described this album: “If Transatlanticism was an inhale, then Plans is the exhale.” Hope you enjoyed listening with us. Take a deep breath and we’ll catch you next time.