Transatlanticism

Background

Similar to all previous Death Cab for Cutie releases, Transtlanticism was mostly written by lead vocalist and guitarist Ben Gibbard, with many of the songs co-written with other members of the band, particularly guitarist and producer Chris Walla. Prior to the album's release, Gibbard stated: "...unlike The Photo Album, I feel like this record is definitely more like a proper album. We’ve tried to construct it with transitions of songs going in and out of each other, and I think it's a little bit more expansive than the last record."

The album is the first to feature drummer Jason McGerr, who joined the band earlier in 2003, and features writing credits on the songs "The New Year", and "We Looked Like Giants".

Release and reception

When Transatlanticism was released in 2003, it charted at number 97 on the Billboard 200. It reached sales of 135,000 copies in May 2004, and by 2007, the record had sold 530,000 copies, which music journalist Greg Kot judged was "a massive hit by indie-rock standards". On April 29, 2008, it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The licensing of the album's songs as music on the mid-2000s television drama The O.C. helped Death Cab for Cutie garner greater popularity.

Transatlanticism was released to widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on 21 reviews. Uncut magazine hailed it as "a record of rare beauty and poise", and Alternative Press deemed it "Death Cab's slowest and most mature recording" with "hidden bits of magic [that] reveal themselves brilliantly." Andy Greenwald from Spin found the imagery of the lyrics strikingly vivid while praising Gibbard and Walla's musical direction. Rob Theakston of AllMusic wrote that Transatlanticism is "such a decadently good listen from start to finish" because of the band's maturity as songwriters and musicians. In The A.V. Club, Stephen Thompson said the record "surpasses Gibbard's other career highpoints", calling it "a lush, impeccably produced, musically adventurous, emotionally resonant examination of the way relationships are both strengthened and damaged by distance". PopMatters critic Christine Klunk said it was a "nearly perfect pop record" whose straightforward melodies and honest narratives extolled the human condition. William Morris from Pitchfork was more critical, lamenting what he felt were Gibbard's more generalized lyrics and less edge to the band's "usually acute divinations". Stylus Magazine's Colin McElligatt said despite his strong melodies, he had regressed as a lyricist and sounded more "asinine" than before. In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau cited "We Looked Like Giants" as a "choice cut", indicating "a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money".

In 2011, Transatlanticism was named by NPR Music as one of the fifty most important recordings of the 2000s decade, while Rolling Stone ranked it 57th on the magazine's decade-end list. In 2013, Death Cab for Cutie re-released the album, marking its 10th year anniversary with a remaster available as vinyl or MP3 download, including demos for all the songs from the album. In a retrospective piece that year, Entertainment Weekly's Kyle Anderson called Transcatlanticism a "classic indie-rock album", while Pitchfork editor Ian Cohen wrote, "few records open themselves up to forge those kind of moments, to be a formative emotional and listening experience, pushing you to feel what you’re thinking (to flip a line from 'Lightness'), daring to be universal enough to allow you to see yourself in it."

Track listing

All lyrics written by Ben Gibbard.

Personnel

Death Cab for Cutie

Additional personnel