Death Cab For Cutie - ‘Crooked Teeth’ (Atlantic) Released 10/04/06

Sometimes describing something as “nice” or “pleasant” isn’t much of a compliment, and this is one of those moments. ‘Crooked Teeth’ is almost the antithesis of last years hugely disappointing ‘Plans’, charming and heartfelt yet so bland that it is ultimately reduced to nothing more than agreeable backing music to other tasks. It ticks enough boxes for the bands indier than thou fans but that’s not going to pass muster with us -  at some point we’d like to see a bit of life, something raw to tickle our ear drums. But alas no we are left to fall asleep to the nasal whine of Ben Gibbard singing “Your so sweet when you’re slurring your speech” zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…