Photo courtesy of Barsuk Records.Album: Former Lives
Released: Oct. 16
Label: Barsuk Records
Pitchforks: 4.5 out of 5
For some, a Benjamin Gibbard love affair began with the music video to “Soul Meets Body.” A man clad in a beige scarf and retro glasses strolls through a forest, making music notes sprout like plants from the soil at his feet. The budding notes crawl atop trees and swirl in the air, flying around the man as he sings. For some, this was the first impression of Gibbard, the man who could physically bring music alive.
Gibbard is an accomplished musician. He fronts the popular group Death Cab for Cutie, an indie-rock band with soft-spoken charm. He teased the music world with the Postal Service, a short-lived electronic project that produced one highly acclaimed and masterful album. Among Gibbard’s other musical exploits are his band Pinwheel and his project !All-Time Quarterback!
Now, Gibbard has decided to step forward in his career and release a debut solo album titled “Former Lives.” It feels more intimate than any album he’s released before: He sings about love, pain and existentialist crises, yet he does so in a seamlessly natural way that never comes across as whiny or hopeless.
Recalling Gibbard’s recent divorce after two years of marriage with stylish indie darling Zooey Deschanel, the album is certainly a throwback to his emotionally charged “Former Lives.”
The album begins like the budding music notes in “Soul Meets Body” with a quaint a cappella introduction that lasts for 47 seconds and immediately unfurls Gibbard’s supreme vocal talent. “Shephard’s Bush Lullaby” starts the album off well, particularly as Gibbard previews the album as a whole by singing “And I know that I love you / My every thought is of you / Oh the clouds are beginning to break.”
But for those already acquainted with Gibbard’s crisp vocal delicacy, it is comforting to know that “Former Lives” has some sounds never heard from him before.
The record transports listeners as they get to discover new realms through the singer’s exploratory styles. There is a “ranchera” tune in “Something’s Rattling (Cowpoke)” that feels like a scene of the old West complete with saloons and horseback chases through the desert. There is a tropical tune in the mandolin-led “Lily” that feels like a peaceful excursion through Hawaii at sundown — “Lily’s the Pacific Ocean /And I’m standing at her shores.”
Listeners even get to traverse time. “Duncan, Where Have You Gone” utilizes all the elements that make “Let It Be” by the Beatles a masterpiece. The steady slow tempo, simple bass line and distorted guitar solo would be condolence for a heartbreak after an ‘80s high school dance gone wrong.
Aside from a distinguishably pleasant voice, Gibbard has a knack for singing with clarity. Many singers are difficult to understand, and their songs often must be searched on Google to comprehend the lyrics or derive the meaning. However, “Former Lives” is all very accessible. Gibbard does not hide behind a wall of sound to disguise subpar lyrics. Instead, he leaves all his words exposed in the open to reveal sincerity and wit.
It’s easy to detect this genuine cleverness in upbeat pieces like “Hard One to Know” that is rich with witty metaphors like “Around your heart you’ve tied a fishing line / You cast it out there just to see who bites / ‘Cause you’re a hard, a hard one to know.”
The instrumentals are just as intriguing. It would be challenging to find anybody that would deny the catchiness of tunes like “Oh, Woe,” which has a driving bass line and an off-beat guitar steady enough to conduct the head to bob rhythmically and the feet to tap the floor. The album’s closer “I’m Building a Fire” demonstrates that the simplest guitar chords can make beautiful music.
“Former Lives” is a rare album that gets better with each listen. Each tune becomes more attractive, each word hits more powerfully and each element that Gibbard has blended into his songs steadily reveals multiple layers of his musical genius. It is not too cheesy, nor too dark. There is enough variety in his songs to warrant a one-sitting listen to the entire album. This is a personal Ben Gibbard that fans cannot know through Death Cab for Cutie or the Postal Service alone.
Ben Gibbard still hasn’t lost his touch. Like in the video for “Soul Meets Body,” he is still able to make music fly.
Reach the reporter at jconigli@asu.edu
