Add to the album's catchiness a genuinely likeable band with a few welcome quirks — an oddball track called "La pour ca" is sung entirely in French — and Nada Surf's latest comes in ahead of label-mates Death Cab for Cutie's, despite having opened for them on the U.S. leg of their tour.
2. Damien Jurado, Where Shall You Take Me?
If fellow Seattle natives Death Cab for Cutie exploded in 2003, the year saw singer/songwriter Damien Jurado's fifth proper album go largely unnoticed by any except a small cadre of devoted fans. Where Shall You Take Me, however, proved to be a stunning album. The yellowed, water-damaged picture of a lonely farmhouse on the sleeve sets the tone for an album of lovely folk songs both enamored with rural America (in the vein of its predecessor, Ghost of David) and disillusioned with the disintegration of American society and seeking direction (hence, the title).
Hushed opening track "Amateur Night" drops a few sparse clues hinting at a murder before dropping the listener abruptly into "Omaha," a song about a family on a road trip in the Midwest, on a journey that they hope will take them to the top of America ("This country will know us by name"). "Abilene," "Window," "I Can’t Get Over You" and "Tether" sound as though they could have been common songs passed along from generation to generation before Jurado put them to wax, while "Matinee" is a small town boy's excited account of spending an afternoon at the movies. The album has moments of sadness and moments of joy, but the first nine songs lead up to the climactic "Bad Dreams," in which a troubled narrator — perhaps the killer from "Amateur Night" — seeks relief from fear and anxiety and pens a plea for salvation.
Ending with the words, "Come, save me from this fire," this album is a chilling account of the complexities that life can take on in the simplicity of a smalltown context.
1. The Postal Service, Give Up
Article comments
1 - BrownBoognish
I like your choices, but Sea Change came out in 2002.
2 - visualsimplicity
It's funny how Nada Surf will forever be known by the "Popular" song, but they've taken to the road and put together 2 great albums since then, and sadly, none will ever reach the same fame.
Oh and for some reason, I love Beck's creativity, but I found Sea Change (which was I think the result of him breaking up with his longtime girlfriend) to be rather long winded and a tad boring (all the songs also sounded very similar to me). I tried to get into it, but it was far too melancholy for me.
3 - John Adams
Ah, darn it, Boognish, you're right. And well before 2003 (September). But still, the first single didn't hit the airwaves till March or April 2003.
4 - The Theory
interesting picks. I like seeing both Switchfoot and Damian Jurado on there.
5 - Eric Olsen
very interesting list well defended, John, thanks