- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Ben Gibbard has a knack for painting scenes of such intimate detail they come off as universal.
-
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.
-
Spin[Death Cab] have never made the truly great album that their best songs promised. Until now. [Nov 2003, p.112]
-
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.
-
Under The RadarIt's their best yet, and that's saying something. [#5, p.100]
-
Call it the exclamation point on Gibbard's stratospheric year.
-
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.
-
Alternative PressIt's Death Cab's slowest and most mature recording, and over time, hidden bits of magic reveal themselves brilliantly. [Nov 2003, p.98]
-
It's the group's maturity as musicians as well as songwriters that make Transatlanticism such a decadently good listen from start to finish.
-
UncutThis is a record of rare beauty and poise. [Nov 2003, p.107]
-
PopMattersThis album is a beautiful trek through time that pays tribute to the human condition with simple melodies and honest storytelling, a nearly perfect pop record. [Review 1, Score: 100] For old-school Death Cab supporters, it's gut-check time: Did you like these guys for their "rock" or their "indie"? While the secret is out, the music is still too emotionally honest and infectiously witty to hold at a distance. [Review 2, Score: 80]
-
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.
-
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.
-
MojoA further suite of touching vignettes, choice observations and killer lines. [Dec 2003, p.122]
-
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.
-
BlenderConsistently compelling. [Oct 2003, p.116]
-
If anything, it feels like Gibbard has regressed to the point where he sits in the shadow of his bandmate and producer, Chris Walla.
-
Transatlanticism dulls the edges of their usually acute divinations.
-
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.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 172 out of 190
-
Mixed: 2 out of 190
-
Negative: 16 out of 190
-
Oct 8, 2011
-
BunifaJ.Oct 26, 2003Oh what! This aint no rap album. all I could hear wuz some bitches singing some shit about some fotoboofff. Damn dat is nasty ass shit right there.
-
Feb 22, 2011