Death Cab for Cutie - Forbidden Love EP - Barsuk

Review by: Jennifer Perkins

Well my first taste of this EP was the free MP3 on their website, "Song for Kelly Huckaby". I thought, oh no they are getting more and more serious and slow, not at all what I liked about these guys in the first place. Don't get me wrong it was a good song, those familiar sweet and melodic vocals, there were just no keyboards or pop tempos. There were instead strings and a tinge of sadness even.

I realized it was a false alarm by the time I heard "Photobooth". Death Cab for Cutie have always managed to walk the fine line between upbeat and at the same time melancholy. It's like they write pop songs, but the delivery is muted intentionally. It makes for a wonderful mix where you are being tricked by a pop song.

The EP is 5 songs long, 3 of which are brand spanking new and then there are alternate versions of "405" and "Company Calls" from last year's stellar release We Have the Facts and We are Voting Yes. The two re-mixes are quite good. After the whole Cure Mixed Up thing I am typically skeptical of remixes, but it works for Death Cab for Cutie.

You could look at the Forbidden Love EP as a quencher in the meantime while everyone waits for Death Cab for Cutie's next full length release. However, the songs on this EP stand up well alone with out the pre-cursor of a rave reviewed record or the thoughts of what could lie ahead.

Read where Barsuk got their name from here.