On Death Cab for Cutie's Northern Lights

I found myself clicking on a notification on Twitter today from a performance of the song "Northern lights" by Death Cab for Cutie on James Corden's Late Late Show. Northern Lights is a song from their 9th studio album "Thank You for Today". I remember loving the song a lot when it came out, particularly with the addition of guest vocalist Lauren Mayberry from Chvrches. Her voice fits the synth-pop esque soundscape that this song was conveying so well. Along with the Ben Gibbard style of songwriting ("I remember your silhouette, on Dyes inlet), I came to appreciate the new sonic energy that Dave Depper and Zac Rae have contributed to the new Death Cab sound. The call and response of Zac Rae's cold and shimmering piano melody contra Dave Depper's persistent and similar (dare I say synchronized?), yet wavy guitar have added an additional synesthetic experience of what I think I would experience watching Northern lights up in the northern parts of the world. And this "co-led" melody that Zac and Dave deliver fits perfectly well on the well-established style of Ben Gibbard's fingerstyle alternate picking technique (like in the song "El Dorado"), Jason Mcgerr's idiosyncratically mesmerizing drumming and Nick Harmer's driving and tenor-voiced bassline glistening with a beautiful chorus effect. 

I didn't really notice this impact much on the studio version, unfortunately. I thought it was the magical wizardry of producer Rich Costey, who I thought made a similar glossy 80s like contribution to the previous studio effort, "Kintsugi", that made the songs sound like this (like in "Everything's a ceiling"). Now that I'm re-listening to the studio version, I really get to hear and understand more how the band had thought of the development of the songs at a more personal level. Not only are Zac and Dave adding their own spin, they are also in dialogue with Death Cab for Cutie's entire discography. In this live version of Northern lights, I can appreciate the icy desolate landscape that Zac Rae's background drony synth pick that I can only describe as "transcendental" or "out of this world" before I'm reluctant to admit that his backdrop brings about the "northern lights" that this song draws from. It fades away in the chorus but comes back in the second verse, and now I'm inclined to admit that the desolate feelings emphasized in the lyrics of the verses leading up to the profound yet terse chorus: 

"Northern lights,

filled our skies.

Empty nights, 

synchronized"

Not only is this chorus emblematic to the staple we know with Death cab (distance, longing, etc.), it also speaks of the sort of "Cosmic loneliness" that the philosopher Emil Cioran had described as distinct from personal loneliness. And all this without any visuals! Only the music, thought in motion, and the lyrics that clues us into the world that are these "northern lights"! 

When Ben Gibbard sings:
"I'll never be that close again, to your lips and perfect skin
as the tide receded into the unknown"

This transitions to cosmic loneliness, only to be broken by a bridge–a recapitulation of the first line that set this landscape up and gave it meaning: "I remember your silhouette, on Dyes inlet". That builds up with a small bass solo run by Nick Harmer, speaking tones from the sonic landscape– to sing the reluctant refrain once more:

"Northern lights,

filled our skies.

Empty nights, 

synchronized"

Call me crazy but I can't help but feel that it's sung differently–not in the lyrics, but in the meaning! I can feel my own input, a visualization I can only describe as my spirit moving with the music, soaring through the skies, through the Northern lights! It's in my participation with and interpretation of the music– my involvement and engagement– that I get to immerse myself in the cathartic but also transcendental experience of "Northern Lights". 

And even with the lack of Rich Costey and Lauren Mayberry in this live performance, I can't help but fill in the rest with my own imagination. The song has already left me some room to dwell in the moment of unity the song's chorus keeps making me sing. And every time I do this act again–listening to the song, I am begun anew with significance, maybe pertaining to my personal life at in one moment or simply engaged in listening in another. As I dwell, I disclose more concealed truths not just to the song but to me and my being-in-the-world– now fused with the world of Northern Lights. But isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? Well, I'm pretty sure I've already passed that trying to uncover more than the usual review that sticks to how well something corresponds to indie pop songwriting.