Following the ninth studio album, Thank You for Today, Death Cab for Cutie released The Blue EP in September of 2019. The Blue EP is a set of tracks that didn’t quite meet the theme of the previous album, but still belonged in the Death Cab collection. The EP seems to follow the lines of destruction and the pursuit of tragedy in it’s wake. And yet while the album’s sound is another progression away from the delicate but pained nature of Death Cab’s former works, the song “To the Ground” brings it into focus.
It begins with distorted notes propagating between octaves and eerie background tones. This is cut into with heavy drums, creating a pulse for the song that is almost animal like in energy. Two guitars create a harmonic centerpiece that is eventually staved off to a single guitar melody.
Gibbard’s vocals come in while we are met with the story of a car crashing off the side of what is presumably a steep cliff. The car plummets into a valley where it burns up and with time, nature reclaims it. Vines and trees split though the center, animals begin to call it home, and it disintegrates back to the ground from which it came.
The chorus often repeated “../To the ground/..” and sections of the verses are elevated in a sense that the words are held onto while the music behind it continues to move forward in a strongly calculated rhythm. I quite enjoy how the words hold you there momentarily before dropping off that ledge and back into the rolling energy of the rest of the song.
After the second chorus everything begins to swiftly dive into chaos that ultimately builds into a solid note that is bridged into the vocal’s smooth plateaus of the chorus. The frenzy is reminiscent of The Beatles “A Day in the Life;” all pieces of the song completely swept up into this massive sound that makes your own thoughts hard to focus on.
Dropping back to the chorus, the music is peeled back until we are left with the same sound that kicked it off.
What I really enjoy about this song other than a good story – which I always appreciate – is the pure movement from the notes. Every piece has been fitted together and functioning so seamlessly, yet the sound is still vibrant and somewhat wild.
There is also a noticeable absence of the human element in the lyrics. Everything is addressed from the material standpoint of the car and the natural state that it erodes to. There is a central focus on the circle of life without the mention of the person or persons that would have been within the vehicle during the crash. This is a fairly unique way to approach a song about a crash this violent – most songwriters would simply play to the emotional loss for such an event.
I greatly appreciate that Death Cab found a way to get this song out; it is definitely one that should enjoy a limelight of its own.
Please take a listen to the song here and check out the full lyrics below.
Enjoy!
____________________________________________________________________________________________
“To the Ground” – Death Cab for Cutie
Lost, lost control
Slid and began to roll
And on the wings of an ocean gale
Crashed right through the rail
Down to the valley below
To the valley below
Down in the charred remains
Stripped the chassis clean
And the bramble grew through the frame
‘Til it swallowed everything
Swallowed everything
Return to the ground
To the ground
Return to the ground
To the ground
Trees growing tall
Weeds covering all
And the animals made their homes
Underneath its fusted dome
All things come around
All comes around
Comes around
Returns to the ground
To the ground
Ground
Around
Comes around
To the ground
To the ground
To the ground
To the ground
zeven writes 