Death Cab for Cutie’s ‘The Photo Album’ Is Pleasant Enough, but More Is Coming

Best Record of 2001: Day 40 Good morning! Today we’re taking a look at The Photo Album by Death Cab for Cutie. A lifetime ago, I saw Death Cab play one of those festivals every city seems to have during the summer. This was in Portland, and someone had the brilliant idea to run this festival at the exact same time as one of the 9th biggest and most established events. PDX’ers are nothing if not ambitious. It was, to put it diplomatically, an unmitigated disaster. Attendance could be measured by the dozen…maybe. I was there for one simple reason: I was getting paid. It was one of the most surreal weekends in a life filled with more than a few. But! But they had a relatively decent lineup of music acts. During the after was the usual litany of local bands you’ve never heard of. The guys that got together to lay after work at whoever happened to give a garage. the ones who had a short-lived engagement at the Elks on the east side…and a B-list nostalgia act in the hopes of drawing in the…