Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Damian Robinson enjoys a night of superb musicianship courtesy of Death Cab For Cutie
Image: Death Cab For Cutie by Damian Robinson
Florida’s Pool Kids open up tonight’s show at The Glasshouse, and given that they’re seemingly smart and very musically competent, they’re the perfect foil for Washington’s Death Cab For Cutie – a band as technically proficient as you’re likely to find.
Mixing up the LCD Soundsystem beeps-and-baps-electronics with the guitar focus of a 1994 Radiohead, or a 1997 Placebo, Death Cab’s sound owes much to using traditional guitar-band elements whilst ensuring that their edges are experimental, lo-fi and obtuse; their walk-on to Kraftwerk says it all.
Taking moments from their 30-ish year history, tonight’s standouts come from recent album I Built You A Tower, including the title track and opener Riptides which sparkle with new ideas, connecting grooves and clear vocals. Closer Transatlanticism, taken from the album of the same name, gains the loudest cheers tonight; partly due to the brilliance of both the song and the album, and partly because it’s been over 20 years since we’ve the band in the North East playing anything from that album.
Special shout out to Nick Harmer for stealing tonight’s show with his impressive bass lines and performance – and also to the sound engineer who seemed to do a great job of keeping the sound on given numerous technical challenges.
