‘I Will Possess Your Heart’ - Death Cab For Cutie, 2008
I love a great build-up to a song. You know, it goes on…and on…and onnnn…and it keeps going…and after a few minutes the vocals come in. Some of the greatest albums employ a big build-up on the track 1 - Station to Station, Spirit of Eden, Beggar’s Banquet, Joshua Tree…
‘I Will Possess Your Heart’ is the first song I’ve heard from Death Cab For Cutie, and I’m hooked and want to start searching out their other stuff. The song is over eight-and-a-half minutes long, and four-and-a-half are the build-up.
The piano gears up, a great little bassline makes an entrance, the guitar comes in with some lonesome notes, there’s some atmospheric sounds in the background, and as it starts to come together, you might feel a little shiver on the back of your neck, just about when the drums shuffle their way in. And it builds, and builds, and builds. Think Coldplay, only really good, and without the teeth-grating self-help lyrics.
Every time you think, ‘right, the singing starts here’, you’re wrong. When Ben Gibbard’s voice finally comes in (“How I wish you could see the potential, The potential of you and me”), the music lays off almost entirely, before kicking back in again.
The lyrics tell a tale of the narrator’s yearning for intimacy with another - a theme that covers, oh, say about 88% of all pop songs. But the words are written in a way that verges on the stalker-ish, which is again a pretty familiar thing with American indie bands (cf. ‘She Belongs To Me’, ‘I Am Trying to Break Your Heart’, all of Bon Iver’s stuff).
In fact, Gibbard’s voice is a bit of an acquired taste. I’ve never been a big fan of R.E.M., and Gibbard’s voice is a bit to similar to Michael Stipe’s for my liking. Truth be told, I’ve generally played the first 4 1/2 minutes, and then put it back to the start to play again.
The video for the song is terrific - a girl travelling around the world, airports, buses, taxis, escalators, foreign cities…it’s a bit like Where The Hell Is Matt, in that it makes you want to go travelling. Anyway, check it out - like I say, it’s all about the build-up.
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June 26th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
sooo you do know that his name is Ben GiBBard right?
not Gillard.
just thought I’d let you know.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Hi Jessie, cheers for pointing that out, change made. I’m only just getting into DCFC, but still should have known that! Thanks again
June 27th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
No Problem =)
just glad to know another death cab fan is on board!
have a good day!
September 17th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I really just don’t like the song. The lyrical device of using “love” back to back with two different meanings is just so obvious and cheesy. Especially since they overemphasize it by holding a beat in silence before saying the word “love”. And for a song about love, the point is usually never to mention the word love. It’s just poor lyrics in my opinion, with the song hinging on an embarrassingly obvious lyrical device. Alright, we get it, it’s about LOVE.