Codes and Keys: A Review

     Death Cab for Cutie's new album, Codes and Keys, was released at the end of May.  I downloaded it from Amazon and have been listening to it ever since.  I've been a die hard DCfC fan since I lived in Mulilteo, WA- just 75 miles south of their Bellingham home.  This was the early aughts - '02 to '03.  I didn't see them live while I was there, but I was aware of the buzz.  These guys were going to be the next big thing.  I was already a few years behind on the band wagon.
     If you're already a Death Cab fan, Codes and Keys is ... well, you probably already have it so there's no reason to finish the sentence.  It's a good solid album.  It does what Death Cab does best.
     There were no real surprises on the album.  Although I suspect there isn't much that would surprise me on a Death Cab album, so maybe that's why.  I suppose I mean to say there was nothing jarring and frankly that's good.  I prefer to not be jarred. 
     A few years ago I was working at a desk job; the office mandated Fox News be on constantly, so I protected my brain with earphones.  Plans had just been released and I was listening to it nonstop.  A coworker asked what I was listening to and then scrunched up their face when I told them.  Someone else commented that it was "the death metal all the kids are into."  I was confused and angry.  I looked around my immediate area to see if she was talking to or about someone else.  What was the death metal and who were these kids?  Does she think I'm the kid and does she think I enjoy the death metal?  And does she think that a band with a name like Death Cab for Cutie would be death metal?  "No, no, what?  No, it's not.  It's ... not.  What?"  I offered to let her listen to it, but she said it was devil's music and walked away.  Another one of my coworkers took me up on it and I believe he converted to DCfC fandom.  Never judge a band by its name, right?  But I digress. 
     I do have one complaint about the album.  It's more so about its digital release and the fact that on this release they wrote their name as Death Cab For Cutie, and on previous releases, Death Cab for Cutie.  About half of their releases are one way and half are the other.  It's a subtle difference, but it's enough of one to mess up the listing on my iPod!
     My current favorite song on Codes and Keys is Monday Morning.  I think it's sweet. I tend to use Death Cab songs as real life advice.  So when You Are a Tourist tells me when there's a burning in your heart ... then it's time to go well then, who am I to argue?  They're right.  It's probably time to go.