I'll follow you too...as long as they'll be some dancing when we get there...
Taken from the critically acclaimed album 'Plans', Seattle quartet Death Cab For Cutie give 'I Will Follow You Into The Dark' a dedicated single release on the back of their T In The Park Festival performance - and it's a winner.
Stripped down to just a simple acoustic guitar and voice, 'I Will Follow You Into The Dark' is a melancholy yet inspirational tale. The realisation that one day we're all going to face an afterlife of some kind - even if it is nothing at all (yes I know that statement is stupidly contradictory - but I don't care), might not appear heartening on the surface but when combined with the wildly romantic gesture (the title of the song itself), the track surprises in its tenderness.
After a few swipes at Catholicism - "Catholic school/As vicious as Roman rule" - 'I Will Follow You Into The Dark' focuses on the satisfaction yet weariness that the aging process brings, and the peculiar sense of foreboding associated with Agnosticism and Atheism - I mean let's face it: the reason we're ALL scared of death is because we don't know what is going to happen to us i.e. if there IS anything out there at all - and that's why the aforementioned proposal is made all the more glorious.
Fans of The Postal Service will be readily familiar with vocalist Ben Gibbard and, as on the entirety of 'Give Up', his vocal on this single is remarkably soft and unfettered; it calms, it reassures and it seduces in equal measure. It's truly a bravura performance.
'I Will Follow You Into The Dark' is not simply a love song. But thanks to its simple production and Gibbard's simple performance of it, it IS simply wonderful. Buy this...then buy the album.