Threw Away the Key
Different Names for the Same Thing - Death Cab for Cutie (Blast from the Past Tuesday)
I think Plans will end up being an album I’ll write a review of every song for, but all in different articles. I wrote about “Crooked Teeth” in April of last year, and here I am again, ready to feature another track! I consider Plans to be one of my all-time favorite albums — it’s been in my life for quite a few years now, and it’s like if comfort food was music. When I listened to it for the first time, it felt kind of grown-up to me. Every song seemed to have a deeper meaning that I couldn’t quite unlock for a little bit longer. My favorite track seemed to switch every time I heard it… that is, until one day, when “Different Names for the Same Thing” made a home in my head and threw away the key.
Five minute songs can seem daunting. Right in the middle of “long” and “too long”, you usually have to be in a very specific mood to choose that over something shorter. “Different Names for the Same Thing” shakes this up by not only being one of the greatest five minute songs I’ve heard, but also being the one I go straight to if I’m not listening to Plans all the way through. This is a track that truly has an evolution to it — you start with Ben Gibbard’s melancholy vocals against an echo-y piano, little crackles behind it. (I could never decide if that represented a campfire, vinyl, or something else.) Little hints of strings are added, just enough to fill out the sound, but low enough in the mix to make you question if they were ever even there at all. The chord progression is the type that can make your heart ache, the type that doesn’t necessarily make you sad, but makes your mind retreat, if that makes sense.
Then, with right about three minutes to the end, everything turns on its head. This mournful, isolated sound becomes hopeful. Bass, drums, perfectly timed cymbal hits, keyboard throughout — everything comes together to make you question if this is the same song as what you just heard previously. The bell chime sound effect might be my favorite piece of the second half’s puzzle. It gives just the right amount of brightness, making an already great track even greater.
When Death Cab announced the Plans 20th anniversary tour earlier this year, I was over the moon. While I’m a little less over the moon that the shows were very limited & sold out quickly, I think I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I may need to celebrate the album in my own way… and that will certainly include at least twenty re-listens to “Different Names for the Same Thing”!
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