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It's rare you get the chance to see a live performance of a popular band in a very intimate setting, so when Death Cab for Cutie came through Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago to do such a show for KCRW the invite was impossible to turn down.
Though DCFC's music can be as wide-open and explosive as their 2009 visit to the Hollywood Bowl to play a set with the L.A. Philharmonic that ended with fireworks, there is an undeniable intimacy to much of their songs, all which translated well for KCRW's Apogee's Berkley Street Studio Sessions.
The nine-song set and interview with KCRW DJ Anne Litt was recorded and will be broadcast on Morning Becomes Eclectic on November 1. Focusing mostly on songs from their most recent release, "Codes and Keys," the Bellingham, WA born-and-bred band also treated the lucky attendees inside the cozy studio venue to gems from their back catalog, like "A Movie Script Ending," "Blacking Out the Friction," and the finale "The Sound of Settling."
About halfway through the band gathered with Litt for an amusing interview that veered off into the unexpected turf of baseball fandom, and what books each bandmember was currently reading (and, my goodness, as if DCFC wasn't geek chic already, these smart men got a whole lot sexier when they started talking books, yowzers!). They also got to show their sense of humor, riffing on the idea that a band-mate relationship is as intense as a martial partnership, and perhaps even more complex.
Litt touched on the notion of "place" in DCFC's lyrics, and frontman Ben Gibbard spoke about the idea of moving places, feeling out of place, and not recognizing home. For anyone who has gone back to what once was home, "You Are a Tourist," will indeed tug at that gray, confusing place in your psyche that feels un-rooted when you are where your own roots are said to be.
Though the evening was short, Gibbard, Chris Walla, Nick Harmer, and Jason McGerr ensured it was stellar.
Set List
Crooked Teeth
A Movie Script Ending
Doors Unlocked and Open
You Are a Tourist
Portable Television
Blacking Out the Friction
Stay Young, Go Dancing
Home is a Fire
The Sound of Settling
