My Top 1000 Songs #493: Such Great Heights

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

I first got into Death Cab For Cutie around the time of 2003's Transatlanticism. It took me awhile longer to get into singer Ben Gibbard's other project from the same year, teaming up with musician Jimmy Tamborello for The Postal Service's one-and-done LP Give Up. I don't listen to a lot of electronic music, preferring Death Cab's more traditional guitar-based music, but Tamborello's synths here have a low-key DIY charm here that works well with Gibbard's gentle vocals, and it's one of those albums that gradually grew on me until it felt like a dear old friend.

Give Up is solid throughout, but "Such Great Heights" benefits from some particularly clever, moving lyrics, Gibbard delivering a love song both personal and universal. Maybe I'm just a sap, but I kinda love: "I have to speculate, that God himself did make, us into corresponding shapes, like puzzle pieces from the clay."

Live 2013:

Ben Folds cover version: