365 project:"when you feel embarassed, ill be your pride. if you need directions, ill be your guide"

100!

artist:death cab for cutie
album:transatlanticism

i am old and jaded, and that means that it is very rare that i find an album that i can sit and listen to all the way through without ever wanting to skip a single song. Transatlanticism is one shining exception to that rule. from the first notes of the new year to the ending of a lack of color, everything about this album is perfect. it evokes emotion in me like nothing else I've ever heard.

i love this album so much, and am having such a hard time putting that into words. i started this entry last night, and kept deleting what i had written, so i thought i could sleep on it and have a clear mind in the morning, but I'm still feeling really lost about what to write here.

i guess i could tell the story of how i acquired this album. for a while right out of college i was hanging out with this guy. we had a few things in common, but a lot more differences. at first, i didn't even want to hang out with him, really, but he tricked me into seeing a movie with him and then it just went downhill from there.

one of the things that i didn't realize was happening until the end was that he was slowly becoming me. while i like myself well enough, i don't really like the idea of someone else wanting to be just like me. they say that this is a form of flattery, but i just find it creepy.

he went to shows with me and really started liking the bands in the scene. if id mention a band, he'd go blow all sorts of money on their entire discography, seemingly just to impress me. death cab was a band that i kept hearing about, but i was so put off by the name that i never bothered checking them out. we were in the mall and he picked up this album and asked if i liked it. i explained why i hadn't heard it  yet, and he bought it.

we were hanging out a few days later and he handed me the CD and told me that it just wasn't his thing...that he didn't like it. i threw it in my bag and didn't think much else of it. several months later i found myself bored of everything i had on my shelves and decided to listen to this album.

and then i kicked myself for waiting so long to listen to this band.

it remains one of my all-time favorite albums, and it is a must-have roadtrip disk. there is something about the song "we looked like giants" that makes it perfect for driving at high rates of speed. i feel that song in my bones. i love the bass lines and the low end sound the song carries, and the lyrics make me smile.

that boy is long since gone from my life, thank goodness, but this album remains in heavy rotation.