Death Cab for Cutie’s Transatlanticism came out during my senior year of high school.
As many youth, my transition to college wasn’t necessarily a smooth one, and many of the tracks on this album spoke to me. As a result, I wore out the original CD I purchased and just about burned in the title to the screen of my iPod.
I’m not alone; many friends my age view Transatlanticism as a sort of coming-of-age work. As Death Cab fans and haters alike know, Ben Gibbard’s subject matters don’t stray far from love and/or pain. Just take the bridge from Expo ‘86:
I am waiting for something to wrong
I am waiting for familiar resolve
I am waiting for another repeat
Another diet fed by crippling defeat
And I am waiting for that sense of relief
I am waiting for you to flee the scene
As if you held in your hand the smoking gun
And on the floor lay the one you said you loved.
Now, the record is ten years old, and Barsuk Records has re-released it. In addition to the original 11 tracks, the release includes demo versions of all the songs.
While I’m not much of a musician, I’ve spent a lot of time around music in both a live and a studio setting, and the evolution that takes place over the course of a song being a demo to a finished thing will never stop fascinating me.
On the final record, the bridge of Expo ‘86 is buried under crashing guitars, keys and drums, but the demo’s bridge is intense, too, but not nearly as dark and very drum-driven.
The lines about the smoking gun are different on the demo, too.
I enjoy both versions, however. I think most Death Cab fans will enjoy all the “new” tracks. Many of the demos have tech-heavy sections that were (thankfully) stripped away by the likes of Chris Walla. Many of the songs sound like they could have been dropped off Codes and Keys, if that helps clarify.
Many of Transatlanticism’s demos sound similar, which isn’t super surprising, as many demos are about the thought behind a song. However, almost every sing track has a thread connecting the demo to the final album. Little hints of what would become such a great, meaninful record are all over the place.
The demos can be purchased from iTunes here, with the whole album available here.