- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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[Plans has] ginormous power-pop melodies in songs such as "Soul Meets Body" and "Marching Bands of Manhattan" and wussy-boy lyrics that'll make your heart grow a few sizes.
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Alternative PressSeamlessly picks up right where 2003's Transatlanticism left off. [Nov 2005, p.208]
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Rock music this substantive is increasingly rare, but "Plans" delivers beyond expectations.
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FilterDCFC is becoming a band that's worth noticing apart from Ben. [#17, p.93]
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As albums, Transatlanticism and Give Up seemed greater than their parts, perfectly paced song cycles about love wracked by distance and time's march. Plans addresses similar themes, but without the same narrative glue or shape.
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This is certainly an album of progression that is likely to win the band plenty of new fans, but it shouldn't alienate their fanbase either.
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UrbDespite what the blog-haters might say, Gibbard and Co. more than make the grade. [Oct 2005, p.77]
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In comparison to the dry, raw production of Transatlanticism, Plans is warm and polished, the kind of album expected from a band obsessed with the sound of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.
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Under The RadarPlans is a careful but not calculated album, accessible but hardly immediate, and likely to frustrate those who want it to fuel either side of an ideological debate on what it means to be indie. [#10, p.106]
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The band wears grandiosity with grace, miniaturizing and polishing big, broad moments into tiny triumphs that, like audible illusions, feel simultaneously intimate and huge.
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Los Angeles TimesA sad and touching meditation on death and distance, handled with a light melodic touch. [28 Aug 2005]
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There is nothing like Transatlaticism's "Sound of Settling" here to offset the never-ending stream of ballads and down-tempo songs.
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This is an amazing little pop record of amazing little pop songs.
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BlenderAt times, the writing feels almost too weightless. But repeat listening makes these songs reliably addictive. [Oct 2005, p.133]
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Never the hardest rocking of bands, Death Cab for Cutie sound positively muted throughout Plans, Gibbard's obsession with the temporary nature of relationships and life itself receiving appropriately somber accompaniment.
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It’s an easy and mostly enjoyable listen.
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In a way, it's comforting to know what you're getting: Four or five songs you'll treasure, four or five you'll tolerate, and a pretty good band sticking to their guns.
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Q MagazineThis fifth album doesn't differ radically from the previous four.... Newcomers, however, should start with 2003's more cohesive Transatlanticism. [Oct 2005, p.115]
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Plans flounders in the second half, where Death Cab run out of ideas and try to fill the holes with busy keyboard bits.
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Gibbard's angelic vocals sag with the weariness of a man who's gazed at his navel all his life only to realise there's nothing but fluff and darkness.
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Although the band hasn’t really strayed from its cutesy indie-pop formula, the qualities that made Death Cab stand out aren’t present this time around.
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Unmemorable and inoffensive, Death Cab has gone from oddball indie-pop kids to mature professionals who now have a lot more people counting on their success.
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Plans is a shameless and famished record, the sound of pop slurping itself empty.
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New Musical Express (NME)'Plans' is produced within an inch of its shiny, whitebread life and the Cutie seem to have lost their faux-naive subtleties, becoming the non-thinking man's Coldplay along the way. [27 Aug 2005, p.74]
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MojoFrankly this sort of thing makes Athlete, Snow Patrol et al sound like fire-breathing berserkers. [Oct 2005, p.102]
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UncutTheir failure to shift pace from a relentlessly wistful chug makes for an oddly exhausting listening experience. [Oct 2005, p.98]
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[It] leaves this bizarre aftertaste – one not of immediate dislike, but one that’s pretty far from appealing enough to warrant a second sampling.
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Death Cab succeed by refusing to offend. That can be an admirable trait in a person, but never in a musician.
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Plans is ultimately a pretty boring album, and the primary reason is its lack of diversity.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 168 out of 203
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Mixed: 14 out of 203
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Negative: 21 out of 203
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Jun 30, 2011
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KevinMSep 26, 2005
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BrendanMSep 5, 2005softer than transatlanticism, but a very provoking album