Death Cab For Cutie "An Arrow in the Wall" - Review

6/10

Death Cab For Cutie's newest single An Arrow in the Wall comes as quite a longshot from the nostalgic tracks that made so many fall in love with the Bellingham, Washington indie band back in the day. Setting aside the notable sonic differences from the early days, it is quite clear that frontman, Ben Gibbard's voice still holds to the level it did in the early days of the group, over twenty years ago, something that was pleasantly noted on their previous record Asphalt Meadows.

The newest single is certainly easy enough to listen to, it's a fine song, but don't expect it to knock your socks off. Around the three-minute mark, the band breaks it down a bit, introducing a catchy, yet very subtle bridge melody filled with low-lying muted guitar playing and some shoegaze distortion. Although it's probably not exactly a song you may expect from Death Cab, with the release of their last album, this more highly produced kind of music is certainly the direction they are going in. To be fair though, Asphalt Meadows still had a ton of cool guitar work, alongside the expected slick drumming of Jason McGerr. An Arrow in the Wall overall is alright, catchy enough, sleek, and contemporary. If they do have another studio album somewhere around the corner, it would be nice to hear them lean bit back towards the musicians, where they really stride and less towards the postproduction. Death Cab is crazy talented, let's see more of that side.

Be sure to check out our retrospective reviews of Plans or Narrow Stairs alongside our ranking of the Top 15 Songs by Death Cab For Cutie.