Transatlanticism- by request

Just so you know, I made it a point to never never never 'critique' or 'review' anything I didn't like. Because there's just no point. I might as well start expending a lot of negative energy on all the bad stuff permeating as soundwaves, which I don't see beneficial to anyone (unless it's very very funny. but even then, I'd still sound like an asshole.)

So I decided that if I didn't like this song, I wouldn't review it.

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Out of the Transatlanticism album, my favorite, and maybe because I saw it first, is Title and Registration. That and the lackadaisical sadness that is expressed, a sorta nonchalance to it (which is always so cool, because it's not cool to care!!) blanketed in metaphor after metaphor, makes Title and Registration easily likable. Then you have catchier tunes like The Sound of Settling, and any song with a 'bappa bappaaa..!' gets more frequent play from yours truly.

So at first listen, Transatlanticism is not something Kye would play on loop. In fact she would probably skip it after 10 seconds of play.

Because it's difficult to deliver a sad song, that is unabashed about being sad. A song about being at the losing end of a deal that everyone else seems to accept with glee- it makes even the listener feel a bit pathetic for listening.

And Ben Gibbard has never sounded more earnest and breakable in his sadness then he does when he raises his voices to insist,
"I need you so much closer"

Because there's nothing sadder than calling for help from someone you know won't answer.

But then. Staying with him to the end of the song is rewarding.

Each time he repeats, "I need you so much closer" you can feel that his need is less and less, and it is more a determined want and hope rather than sheer desperation.

So Transatlanticism is redeemed because it isn't just a sad song- with that surge of energy at the end, the kind one gets when one makes peace with it all- it gathered enough strength to burst free from its own fetters of desolation.

And you will feel like that friend, that kind of friend- the kind that sticks around until a person down gets up again.




The Atlantic was born today, and I'll tell you how:
The clouds above opened up and let it out.

I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole.
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean,
Making islands where no island should go.
Oh no.

Most people were overjoyed; they took to their boats.
I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat.
The rhythm of my footsteps crossing floodlands to your door
Have been silenced forever more.
The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
It seems farther than ever before
Oh no.

I need you so much closer [8x]
I need you so much closer [x4]
So come on come on [x4]