My soundtrack for the fall

A few weeks ago I was flipping through the CD bins at the Ann Arbor library and came across one I hadn't seen before from Death Cab for Cutie, 2005's Plans. I'd received a copy of the band's previous CD, 2003's Transatlanticism, from ex-labbie PSC years ago, and while I respected the band's sound, I was never overly enthusiastic about it. My initial listen to Plans brought back many of the same impressions: nice, inoffensive, but probably not worth repeat listenings. The CD soon ended up on a stack of others.

I decided to give the CD another listen a couple of days ago, and for reasons I won't get into here, I now think this CD is destined to be my soundtrack for the fall. The lyrics are worth finding online, and for people going through changes, as I've been in my personal and professional life, those lyrics are virtual salve. For example:

"I don't recall a single care,
Just greenery and humid air,
Then Labor Day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin."

and

"You may tire of me as our December sun is setting because I'm not who I used to be,
No longer easy on the eyes, but these wrinkles masterfully disguise
The youthful boy below who turned your way and saw
Something he was not looking for, both a beginning and an end,
But now he lives inside someone he does not recognize
When he catches his reflection on accident."

and

"Children picking up our bones

Will never know that these were once

As quick as foxes on the hill;

And that in autumn, when the grapes

Made sharp air sharper by their smell

These had a being, breathing frost"

Okay, I'm just kidding about that last one which is part of a Wallace Stevens poem, "A Postcard from the Volcano". But the first two are from tracks 3 and 10 on Plans, and my point is that all three use seasons as metaphors of change to good effect. I've always found comfort in the idea that as the seasons come and go, so do our days and maybe our lives too if we're lucky. Yesterday was the first day of fall -- we'll see where this one leads.