Yes, it has been almost a week since my last post. Yes, I realise this sloppiness is becoming all too frequent. My silence over the past few days has been largely due to the fact that we’ve just come off a long weekend (nothing like last week’s South African national vacation, but good nevertheless) and I was in the Cornwall countryside, miles away from a wireless connection or, at times, even a cellphone signal. It was bliss.

But we’re back now, and I went through to see Death Cab For Cutie (Death Cab, DCFC) at the Electric Ballroom in Camden last night. I’d never been to the Ballroom before, but it’s an awesome venue: intimate enough so that you’re always relatively close to the act, but big enough to make it a viable proposition for more successful artists.

Death Cab were really good. They played a solid set comprising a “best of” collection, as well as a few tracks from their upcoming studio album Narrow Stairs, which sounded very promising. I’ve never paid much attention to DCFC’s song titles or album compositions, so I had to “reverse engineer” their set list on the tube ride home: “Marching Bands Of Manhattan”, “Your Heart Is An Empty Room”, “The New Year”, “Lightness”, “Title And Registration”, “The Sound Of Settling”, “Transatlanticism” and “We Laugh Indoors” (and some others). Highlights were the rousing “Soul Meets Body” and the beautiful, acoustic “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”.

I wilfully acknowledge that DCFC are gods to a generation of weepy, sexually confused, emo-freak indie sympathisers, but what can I say? I like them. The band, not the freaks. And they’re living proof that simple, four-piece arrangements can still be original and don’t have to be pumped full of production flavourants, colourants, stabilisers and MSG before they’re ready to hit the shelves. But this is almost entirely down to frontman Ben Gibbard (who, incidentally, also formed The Postal Service), and there can be no mistake that the rest of the band is pretty much his support act. If DFCF are emo gods, then Gibbard is Zeus. Sporting an eye-covering side-parting, check shirt and rocking almost compulsively from side to side as he performs, Gibbard (below, four-eyes) is the mother of all emo geeks. But I’m going to let that observation slide, because he’s a fucking talented guy.

Here’s the video for “Soul Meets Body”. I was too drunk and lazy to take any photos of videos of my own last night. Sorry.

Anyways. I know a lot of you guys (particularly the more sensitive, girly ones) probably love Death Cab already, but the rest of you should give it a go. It’s genuinely good. Quality, original-yet-distinctive song-writing. Good stuff.

On a side note, the Autofellator and I have come to a mutual understanding after a particularly hazy weekend. It’s going to be a pot-free May in Clapham, so here’s hoping the post-frequency on Splattermail improves somewhat! Enjoy your Hump Day!