Benjamin Gibbard
Former Lives
Spunk
3.5/5
After 15 years fronting
Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Gibbard has decided the time is right for a solo
offering, time to find a home for at least a handful of the scores of tunes
he’s penned over the years, deemed not right for The Cab.
Former Lives is that home, a clutch of disparate tunes running the
gamut from robust, folky
numbers to slow-burning, big-building soundscapes to horn-laden mariachi
jaunts, a real hodge-podge of ideas seemingly thrown together for comfort and
support, but which as a whole, make for a smart, cohesive little unit.
Beginning with the
pithy a capella ‘Shepherd’s Bush Lullaby’, Former
Lives, despite its seeming randomness, is bound together by the strength
and honesty of Gibbard’s songwriting, a thread which solidifies, injecting some
cohesion, anchoring it and making it something special, as opposed to merely
the frontman of a famous band, indulging himself.
For Gibbard, this
record closes a long chapter of his life, but at the same time, I’d not be
surprised if it began another.
Samuel J. Fell
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