{"id":32278,"date":"2012-11-14T12:48:24","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T12:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/"},"modified":"2018-03-11T01:28:04","modified_gmt":"2018-03-11T01:28:04","slug":"album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Benjamin Gibbard &#8211; Former Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><img decoding=\"async\" align=\"left\" height=\"151\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/benjamingibbard1.jpg\" width=\"150\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Anybody attempting to claim that <strong>Benjamin Gibbard<\/strong> hasn\u2019t been a deservedly major player in contemporary indie music is a liar, plain and simple. Whether you\u2019re a Death Cab For Cutie fan, a lover of his incredible side-project The Postal Service, or don\u2019t really care for either, chances are at some point you\u2019ve hummed along to a song that originated in this man\u2019s brain. Now, with <em>&rsquo;<\/em><em>Former Lives\u2019,<\/em> he\u2019s performing as <strong>Benjamin Gibbard<\/strong>, the man himself and for someone who has experienced such acclaim as a member of other bands for fifteen years it must be daunting to say \u201cthis is me, I hope you like it\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong><span>Gibbard <\/span><\/strong><span>claims, <em>\u201cThese songs span eight years, three relationships, living in two different places, drinking then not drinking. They\u2019re a side story, not a new chapter.\u201d<\/em><\/span><span> <\/span>So it\u2019s not a new man and a new start \u2013 this is a more personal side of a musician you thought you knew; this could bring the whole charade crashing down to earth. Fortunately this is not the case, <em>\u2018Former Lives\u2019<\/em> is every bit as good, as heartfelt, and as worth your time as any Death Cab For Cutie album. It doesn\u2019t have the sombre originality of The Postal Service\u2019s <em>\u2018Give Up\u2019<\/em> but it showcases the same ear for a great song. With <em>\u2018Former Lives\u2019 <\/em><strong>Benjamin Gibbard <\/strong>has again proved why he is such a deserved mainstay of modern music.<!-- more --><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span>With <em>\u2018Shepherd\u2019s Bush Lullaby\u2019 <\/em><strong>Gibbard <\/strong>begins his debut offering as a solo artist in captivating fashion \u2013 an a cappella song beautifully constructed with excellent lyrics and perfect backing vocals.<em>\u2018Teardrop Windows\u2019 <\/em>is beautiful, with shades of Nightmare Of You throughout \u2013 a soundtrack ready for cheery frosty days arriving just in time. The entire album has a similar happy melancholy to it, something <strong>Gibbard<\/strong> has perfected over the course of his illustrious career.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span>Following on from <em>\u2018Teardrop Windows\u2019 <\/em>comes song after song of desperate beauty. <em>\u2018Bigger Than Love\u2019 <\/em>comes equipped with a fantastic riff that accompanies <strong>Gibbard<\/strong>\u2019s customarily excellent vocals into a slow building final chorus that gives a true sense of the \u2018eight years\u2019 these stories span. Because that\u2019s what this album is, it\u2019s stories from a man\u2019s life told wonderfully. The stories most people would have, not just the megastar singer of one a generation\u2019s favourite bands. <strong>Gibbard<\/strong> is just fortunate enough to be able to put these stories into songs relatable to those without the power to tell them so eloquently.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><em><span>\u2018Duncan, Where Have You Gone?\u2019 <\/span><\/em><span>is a wonderful track, bass driven atop strong drums the harmonized vocals fold back to make way for some beautiful guitar playing before re-emerging to carry the track out to the end. <em>\u2018Oh, Woe\u2019 <\/em>allows the strong bass to continue and is something with a rockier feel, so far from heavy but showing <strong>Gibbard<\/strong>\u2019s ability to change things up when he wants to without losing any quality. <em>\u2018A Hard One To Know\u2019 <\/em>is perhaps <em>\u2018Former Lives\u2019 <\/em>strongest song, reminiscent of The Smiths had Morrissey had one happy day somewhere in the middle of recording <em>\u2018Strangeways, Here We Come\u2019.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span>Closing track <em>\u2018I\u2019m Building A Fire\u2019 <\/em>finishes out the album with one last demonstration of <strong>Gibbard<\/strong>\u2019s brilliant and instantly recognizable voice. It would be forgivable to think that any song from this album was a Death Cab For Cutie song if it came on the radio. A stripped down Death Cab is something not many would scoff at and this is pretty close without colliding. Different enough to be interesting and similar enough to feel immediately familiar \u2013 this, like all of <strong>Gibbard<\/strong>\u2019s projects, is perfect listening for almost any situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span>4.5\/5<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><em>&lsquo;Former Lives&rsquo;<\/em> by <strong>Benjamin Gibbard<\/strong> is out now on <strong>City Slang<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong>Benjamin Gibbard<\/strong> links: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.benjamingibbard.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bengibbardofficial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/Gibbstack\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span>Words by Tom Knott (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nounandthenouns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@nounandthenouns<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anybody attempting to claim that Benjamin Gibbard hasn\u2019t been a deservedly major player in contemporary indie music is a liar, plain and simple. Whether you\u2019re a Death Cab For Cutie fan, a lover of his incredible side-project The Postal Service, or don\u2019t really care for either, chances are at some point you\u2019ve hummed along to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,14117,14119,14118],"class_list":["post-32278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-benjamin-gibbard","tag-city-slang","tag-former-lives"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Album Review: Benjamin Gibbard - Former Lives - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anybody attempting to claim that Benjamin Gibbard hasn\u2019t been a deservedly major player in contemporary indie music is a liar, plain and simple. Whether\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review: Benjamin Gibbard - Former Lives - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anybody attempting to claim that Benjamin Gibbard hasn\u2019t been a deservedly major player in contemporary indie music is a liar, plain and simple. Whether\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-14T12:48:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-11T01:28:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/benjamingibbard1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"151\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Album Review: Benjamin Gibbard - Former Lives - Already Heard Staging","description":"Anybody attempting to claim that Benjamin Gibbard hasn\u2019t been a deservedly major player in contemporary indie music is a liar, plain and simple. Whether","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Album Review: Benjamin Gibbard - Former Lives - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"Anybody attempting to claim that Benjamin Gibbard hasn\u2019t been a deservedly major player in contemporary indie music is a liar, plain and simple. Whether","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2012-11-14T12:48:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-11T01:28:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":151,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/benjamingibbard1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3"},"headline":"Album Review: Benjamin Gibbard &#8211; Former Lives","datePublished":"2012-11-14T12:48:24+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-11T01:28:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/"},"wordCount":650,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/benjamingibbard1.jpg","keywords":["Album Reviews","Benjamin Gibbard","City Slang","Former Lives"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews","Post"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/","name":"Album Review: Benjamin Gibbard - Former Lives - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/benjamingibbard1.jpg","datePublished":"2012-11-14T12:48:24+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-11T01:28:04+00:00","description":"Anybody attempting to claim that Benjamin Gibbard hasn\u2019t been a deservedly major player in contemporary indie music is a liar, plain and simple. Whether","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-benjamin-gibbard-former-lives\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/benjamingibbard1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/benjamingibbard1.jpg","width":150,"height":151},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36026,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32278\/revisions\/36026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}