The dual twenty year anniversaries of seminal rock albums Transatlanticism and Give Up culminated in an extended co-headlining tour for Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service. Ben Gibbard pulled double duty fronting both bands each night in what Pitchfork accurately described as ‘peak millennial nostalgia’. Having been fortunate enough to attend one of the Berkeley, CA shows I can confirm the millennial vibes were on full display.
First released in October of 2003 Transatlanticism has since become one of the most influential and greatest indie rock albums of all time. It wouldn’t be until a few years later, about halfway through high school when I went through a bit of an emo/indie phase, that this album would first wash over me. I remember being absolutely blown away at the time. Like the romantic pining of long distance relationships and the associated heartache that forms the loose concept behind the album, my love for this album has only grown with the distance since its release.
Gibbard and co have moved on, now touring for the Plans 20th anniversary this year. But as for me I never really got over Transatlanticism. Apparently I’m not the only one. Nat Lacuna of The Holy Ghost Tabernacle Choir has put together the first in a series of full album cover compilations to fundraise for various causes. The inaugural release in this series is none other than Transatlanticism. You can read more about the project from the Bandcamp description of the compilation.
Revisiting Transatlanticism now over twenty years later I’m at a very different place in my life than I was back then. The feelings of nostalgia and yearning this album conjures up are hitting in entirely new ways. Old chords pulling at new heartstrings. But like all great art, Transatlanticism has a way of meeting you right where you are. The record is timeless in a sense, remaining evergreen even after all these years.
Prior to checking out this compilation I was familiar with only four of the eleven bands involved. (THGTC, Dying Whale, Dreamwell and Drought.) Which means that a whopping seven of these bands were entirely new to me. It was a really fun opportunity to dive head first into the unknown and learn about these artists through what they brought to this project and their previous work as well. So if you hear something that speaks to you be sure to check out their back catalog and maybe you will find a few new favorites. I know I did!
The Holy Ghost Tabernacle Choir – “The New Year”
Noisecore band from Savannah, Georgia
Recent release: Heartland Attack (2023) | Instagram | Bandcamp
THGTC plays a noisecore based style of screamo that is really hard to pin down. They vary wildly from release to release and song to song. Incorporating elements of grind, metalcore, indie rock, and constant experimentation. But the true core of this band is radical empathy.
I had become aware through their socials that THGTC sometimes covered “The New Year” as a part of their live sets. Fortuitously the first time I saw them play in San Francisco a couple years back was just such a performance and that cover was a highlight of the evening. A mutual love for Death Cab and this iconic album surely set things in motion ultimately leading to this full album covers compilation.
THGTC’s version makes it clear right out of the gates that this isn’t your granddad’s Transatlantacism. A suffocating wall of noise and blast beats hit immediately with a vengeance. Before that iconic ‘DUN DUN’ and the melodic line that follows. The shrieks and growls at the fore are echoed by softly underlying cleans. But during the most memorable lines of the track, arguably of the whole album, the cleans are done away with entirely. The focus is entirely on the increasingly unhinged screams.
‘So everybody put your best suit or dress on
Let’s make believe that we are wealthy for just this once
Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn
As thirty dialogues bleed into one
I wish the world was flat like the old days
Then I could travel just by folding a map
No more airplanes, or speed trains, or freeways
There’d be no distance that could hold us back.’
Dying Whale – “Lightness”
Mathcore band from Valdosta, Georgia
Recent release: These Wounds I Bear (2024) | Instagram | Bandcamp
Dying Whale employs a chaotic blend of metalcore and doom soaked punk. Converge are about the closest parallel I can come up with, but Dying Whale have a sound that really is all their own. Sadly the band called it quits last year playing their final show. But I still highly recommend checking them out as they have a lot to offer for the right set of ears and interests.
The opening moments of Dying Whale’s take on “Lightness” are anything but light. The raw vocals and heavy drum beats are met with little tinges of noise and feedback. The lightness bleeds through a bit later as the melodic lines of the song enter with every choral chant of ‘Ivory lines lead’. Absent are Gibbard’s soft ethereal ‘Oh’s, replaced with building growls and a rising tide of noise. Of all the cover’s presented on this compilation this one might be, if not the most divergent, certainly one of the most intense. A funny thing happens as the song goes on though even as the vocals and feedback grow further abrasive it actually becomes more comfortable. Like slipping into a too hot bath overwhelming at first then oddly pleasant and radiant.
KOFIN – “Title and Registration”
Cybergrind band from Atlanta, Georgia
Recent release: No Home: No Hope (2024) | Instagram | Bandcamp
KOFIN plays a fast and loud attack of digital hardcore. Typical for the genre space, expect frenetic shifts between house, trance, and all manner of EDM cut with aggressive noise and blast beats. Soaked in blood and set on fire KOFIN are a font of pure adrenaline atop an unholy altar.
After back to back wild and hard hitting renditions KOFIN offers a quieter moment of return to the source material. At first. Then the cybergrind madness hits. And instantly I’m in love. One of my favorite things about compilations or mixtapes is discovering something entirely new organically. Having never heard of KOFIN before this exposure I was a quick convert. I cut my teeth on HORSE the Band and Genghis Tron, so cybergrind is always welcome and to find it here on what has been rather reductively described as a ‘screamo’ covers compilation was a more than welcome surprise.
Funeral Homes – “Expo ’86”
Hypnagogic noise pop band from central Florida
Recent release: Blue Heaven (2022) | Instagram | Bandcamp
Funeral Homes are part of a rising tide of the new shoegaze wellspring. The youngs have found an old sound and damned if they haven’t pumped some new life into it. Come for the lush warmth, stay for the enveloping haze that slowly enfolds you like a heavy cloud raining down rich sonic textures.
Funeral Homes opens up with a pretty standard cover of “Expo ‘86”. But by the time the first chorus hits the intensity gets quite the punch before things calm back down. Around the halfway point that intensity dial just gets stuck on max matching the energy of Gibbard’s cutting lines:
‘I am waiting for something to wrong
I am waiting for familiar resolve
I am waiting for another repeat
Another diet fed by crippling defeat
And I am waiting for that sense of relief
I am waiting for you to flee the scene
As if you held in your hand a smoking gun
And on the floor lay the one you said you loved.’
By the time we get to the climax of ‘And it’s strange / they’re all basically the same / so I don’t ask names anymore’, the fuzzed out fireworks are exploding all around. Leaving just enough time for one more come down as the track fades out. Shoegaze as it turns out is an extremely effective vehicle for souped-up Death Cab tunes.
Like Father – “The Sound of Settling”
Emo/alternative band from Orlando, Florida
Recent release: Talk About Forever (2022) | Instagram | Bandcamp
Like Father mix punk and indie singing songs about anxiety, not fitting in, and all the other troubles particular to the disaffected youth. Weezer is an easy point of comparison. So if you’re in the mood for more pop punk anthems, Like Father have you covered.
Like Father offers up what is easily the most faithful cover of the compilation on “The Sound of Settling”. They do wander slightly more into pop-punk territory than the carefree skipping indie rock singalong of Death Cab. Especially towards the end of the track as Like Father shifts the tempo upwards instead of winding down. But for the most part this is a straightforward no frills approach. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It has the warm familiarity of an open mic night amongst friends where a classic nostalgia trip comfortably unfolds.
IWAN – “Tiny Vessels”
Screamo band from Chicago, Illinois
Recent release: Instrument of Surrender (2023) | Instagram | Bandcamp
IWAN brings the noise and the raw emotional intensity. The title of their EP comes from the indie game Disco Elysium, which is a central point of reference for the band. They focus on themes of loss, hardship, and haunting memories; their musical style absolutely fits right into the deep character exploration and darker overtones of that amazing game.
Now after a couple of softer renditions we get another wild divergence from IWAN. With the possible exception of “What Sarah Said”, “Tiny Vessels” is the most emotionally devastating song in Death Cab’s catalog. This is a high charge for an artist whose bread is made by twisting the emotional knife ever deeper.
The vocal delivery here is anxious and intense bellowing out. Then there is an almost noise rock interlude that leads, of all places, to some of the sweetest cleans of the compilation. Delivering the lines ‘So when you ask, ‘Is something wrong?’ / I think, ‘You’re damn right, there is / but we can’t talk about it now‘.’ It’s one of the most surprising moments and it hits hard. There is a pain and honesty in these lines building off the original and going deeper and farther than ever before. ‘You are beautiful, but you don’t mean a thing to me’ has never hurt so good.
+CAREGIVER+ – “Transatlanticism”
Post-hardcore band from Nashville, Tennessee.
Recent release: …Within a Forest Dark (2024) | Instagram | Bandcamp
Self-described as ‘blackened prog screamo’ +CAREGIVER+ are pulling from quite a few sources and the result just works. They combine art rock’s dramatic flourishes, a la mewithoutYou (Which they covered on their first EP.), with the harsher assault of metal and hardcore.
Just as on the original album the temporal weight of the covers compilation is here on title track “Transatlanticism”. +CAREGIVER+ perform a similar, if more subtle, magic trick to KOFIN on “Title and Registration”, starting off on nearly the same footprint as Death Cab. There is a similar building urgency as the melodies rise and swell. All the way up to ‘I need you so much closer.’ But it’s the release spiraling into ‘So come on’ that +CAREGIVER+ take “Transatlanticism” and make it all their own. Battling guitar lines and crashing drum blasts and cymbal hits all around. Growling and shrieking now ‘I need you so much closer!’ The second half of this track retains some of my favorite moments throughout the compilation. So much personality and emotion is painted into these notes; it’s overflowing and glorious. +CAREGIVER+ trim just a bit of the excess and repetition of the original, taking about a minute off of the track. Wielding a precision scalpel of editing and composition that results in a bit more streamlined approach while still maintaining the monstrous length of this epic title track.
Dreamwell – “Passenger Seat”
Post-skramz band from Providence, Rhode Island
Recent release: In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You (2023) | Instagram | Bandcamp
Much like THGTC, Dreamwell are a band that is difficult to pin down. Eccentric, unconventional, and uncompromisingly honest Dreamwell finely craft full album compositions laying down exactly what they intend to. Be sure to check out our review of their album Modern Grotesque.
Fuzzed out and echoing Dreamwell’s cover of “Passenger Seat” begins ethereal. The vocals come in like a freight train sliding off the rails and grinding. But the background maintains this soft otherworldly ambiance. The effect is uncanny. The line ‘as you are driving me home’ becomes twisted from warming embrace to vicious accusation. The closing moments find the glow of melodic lines abandoned momentarily for thrashing drums and heavy distortion. The echoing guitar notes resurface for one more soft reprise at the song’s conclusion. This in contrast to the original which is composed solely of piano and voice makes for one of the more stark renditions of the compilation.
DROUGHT – “Death of an Interior Decorator”
Emotional post-hardcore band from the Bay Area, California
Recent release: Drought (2024) | Instagram | Bandcamp
Drought plays a cathartic emotionally driven style of post-hardcore. Immediately reminiscent of mewithoutYou and Pianos Become the Teeth. Drought has a sound that is both eclectic and modern. Be sure to check out our WFA with them for an even more in depth look into the band and the Bay Area scene.
In Drought’s hands the jaunty indie pop of “Death of an Interior Decorator” is transformed into a punk rock anthem. The sympathetic line ‘Tell me why’ve you been so sad’ of the original is instead delivered almost accusatory. The jaunty instrumental interlude at the midpoint becomes a rising beatdown of drums and guitar. Gibbard’s poetic description, mired in minutiae as ever, of the tragic fate of a vase in Drought’s retelling becomes epic and cinematic. The vocals relax to deliver the heartbreaking ‘It felt just like falling in love again’ making this moment hit all the harder.
Hidden Mothers – “We Looked Like Giants”
Ethereal post-hardcore/screamo band from Sheffield, UK
Recent release: Erosion / Avulsion (2024) | Instagram | Bandcamp
Hidden Mothers mix emotional honesty with abrasive ferocity. With just the right combination of clean vocals and coarse growls. Or in other words just plain brilliant post-hardcore. They also take time to make space for some prog and math rock elements. Keeping things fresh with their wide range and creative expression, Hidden Mothers aren’t afraid to let things get a bit darker on some tracks delving into a more black metal oriented sound. For more on Hidden Mothers check out our review of their self-titled debut EP.
“We Looked Like Giants” is the most subtly naked exhibition of virginity ever explored. The subject of young love is hardly under explored territory in verse or song. But the subtle acuity of Gibbard’s examinations of this subject here is simply without rival.
The way that Hidden Mothers embrace and amplify those feelings is masterful. The guitar lines here are piercing giving a cutting bite to the vocal lines. Save for the shouted backing vocals at the end this is one of the most true to the original tracks of the compilation. And yet it has also somehow managed to simultaneously dig in deeper and lay these wounds open more starkly.
Fainting Dreams – “A Lack of Color”
Experimental slowcore band from Denver, Colorado
Recent release: Those Left Untouched by the Light (2024) | Instagram | Bandcamp
Fainting Dreams are another band with varying influences and soundscapes, a running theme of the bands featured on this compilation. Take a shoegaze base and add bits of doom, dark folk, a pinch of death metal for good measure, and sprinkle some indie rock on top. For more on the gumbo stew this band is brewing up check out our review of their latest album.
On my first pass I thought Dying Whale was going to take the prize for most original cover on the compilation. Then Fainting Dreams came along at the end to completely blow apart any previous notion of what was possible with a cover song. By opening up “A Lack of Color” with a feedback hum and syrupy slow detached guitar lines. We’re not even in the same ballpark as the gently plucked melody of Death Cab anymore. Fainting Dreams are here to play a completely different game.
Notably this track is one of only two on the entire compilation that is longer than the original. The other being “Expo ‘86” which is extended by just about twenty seconds. This version of “A Lack of Color” is fully two minutes longer. This is a bold strategy, Cotton, and I am here to tell you it more than pays off. After four minutes of thick sonic honey slowly oozing along, a cacophony of feedback rises in conversation with itself. Only then does the gentle plucked guitar melody of the original come back out of hiding. Still backed by a chorus of feedback and an otherworldly vocal rendition. What an amazing way to close out an exceptional collection of variations on songs from one of the greatest records of all time.
Oscillating between Transatlanticism and Farther Than Ever Before a funny thing happened. I began to hear more and more noise and experimentation coming from Death Cab and more warmth and joy from these ‘screamo’ covers. The Venn diagram separating these qualities began to bleed and overlap. I saw in each a reflection of the other. This perhaps is the hallmark of a truly outstanding retrospective. By forcing you to reconsider the source material from another angle a newfound and deeper appreciation is cemented.
On Death Cab’s record my favorite tracks were “Title and Registration”, “The New Year”, and “A Lack of Color”. On Farther Than Ever Before my favorite song overall is “Transatlanticism”. Followed closely by “Title and Registration” and “A Lack of Color”. That cybergrind twist from KOFIN was all aces and the way Fainting Dreams were able to completely transform and stretch “Color” out like taffy was mind blowing. But it’s the title track by +CAREGIVER+ that brought down the house as far as I’m concerned.
Taking an already great song and improving upon it is no easy feat. All of these artists brought something of themselves to a classic album full of legendary songs. With bravery and style all of the unique visions here are a kaleidoscopic work of devotion and love. I hope that you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. Revisiting Transatlanticism and its brilliantly distorted mirror world version has been my pleasure.
Farther Than Ever Before is a fundraising compilation record benefiting Global Action for Trans Equality and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
