Death Cab For Cutie: Soul Meets Body

Probably - okay, definitely - the finest pop song from Death Cab's sadly lackluster Plans full-length, 'Soul Meets Body' is an obvious lead single. Its charms are such that further album sales are an absolute certainty; shame, then, that the aforementioned album doesn't maintain this level of quality throughout.

'Soul Meets Body' is classic Death Cab: creative core Ben Gibbard's tender, lovelorn lyrics that anyone over the age of ten can relate to coupled with the kind of shimmering indie-pop that a thousand imitators have failed to fully master. It's neither torch-raising ballad nor hop-friendly pop'n'rock, instead occupying the difficult middle ground between left-of-centre indie and daytime radio MOR. It says both everything to the listener and a whole lot of nothing at all, its perception entirely dependent on the type of ear bending its way. It's a great single, bascially.

However good this single is, though, that it's one sourced from a central vein yielding little else of value leaves a bitter aftertaste that lingers long after the sound of silence settles.