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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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Transatlanticism
by Death Cab For Cutie
This is the fourth album for the Washington-based indie group led by Ben Gibbard (also of the Postal Service) and Chris Walla.
| LABEL: |
Barsuk |
| RELEASE DATE: |
07 October 2003 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Indie, Rock |
NOTES: Also released in Super Audio hybrid (SACD) format.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
E! Online
Ben Gibbard has a knack for painting scenes of such intimate detail they come off as universal.

100
The Onion (A.V. Club)
A lush, impeccably produced, musically adventurous, emotionally resonant examination of the way relationships are both strengthened and damaged by distance, the album surpasses Gibbard's other career highpoints, which is really saying something.

91
Spin
[Death Cab] have never made the truly great album that their best songs promised. Until now. [Nov 2003, p.112]
90
Flak Magazine
Though there are quite a few slinking, introspective tracks on Transatlanticism, there are also a fistful of songs that have the left-field appeal -- not quite punk, not quite rock, not quite pop -- that brought a song like Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" to the top of the charts in recent years.

90
Alternative Press
It's Death Cab's slowest and most mature recording, and over time, hidden bits of magic reveal themselves brilliantly. [Nov 2003, p.98]
90
All Music Guide
It's the group's maturity as musicians as well as songwriters that make Transatlanticism such a decadently good listen from start to finish.

90
Uncut
This is a record of rare beauty and poise. [Nov 2003, p.107]
90
Billboard
Retaining the naked simplicity of 2000's "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes" while continuing to hone the more lush, hi-fi sound found on 2001's "The Photo Album," the fantastic "Transatlanticism" is full of the lovely melancholy for which Death Cab is known.

90
Under The Radar
It's their best yet, and that's saying something. [#5, p.100]
90
Splendid
Call it the exclamation point on Gibbard's stratospheric year.

80
Drowned In Sound
Grand without ever being bloated, humane without settling into pessimism, the best indie band in North America remind us why sometimes, the rewards do not equal the output.

80
Nude As The News
There is no doubt in my mind -- and in this I seem to have a lot of company -- that Transatlanticism is Death Cab For Cutie's best album so far.

70
Blender
Consistently compelling. [Oct 2003, p.116]
70
Rolling Stone
Transatlanticism should be overwrought -- it's an album about young men enduring lost love in an ocean of memory; instead, it feels like a conversation with an old friend.

70
Mojo
A further suite of touching vignettes, choice observations and killer lines. [Dec 2003, p.122]
65
Stylus Magazine
If anything, it feels like Gibbard has regressed to the point where he sits in the shadow of his bandmate and producer, Chris Walla.

64
Pitchfork
Transatlanticism dulls the edges of their usually acute divinations.

62
ShakingThrough.net
Despite utilizing the same basic indie-pop template utilized to agreeable effect on its previous three albums, Death Cab for Cutie lays an outright goose egg with the bland, tepid Transatlanticism.

60
Neumu.net
For those devoted to this rock band's increasingly artistic gear, Gibbard's a bard spinning pop-song sonnets that cause such constituents of fandom to reel real deep in some crooning-along swooning induced by the lithe lyrics.

60
No Ripcord
It's just comfortable and pleasant enough to convince yourself to stick around - never good enough to be satisfying, nor bad enough to be disappointing.


The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 80 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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