All-Time Quarterback: self-titled

Bellingham, Washington, may not initially seem the type of place one would associate with being a hotbed of indie-pop. Twenty minutes south of the Canadian border and two hours north of Seattle, it is a place neither here nor there. Bellingham is a college town whose main employment is in logging, working the ports, or in retail at the Canadian shopper-magnet Mall. So then, is it any wonder that some like minded sensitive-types would come together to make music, not only for art’s sake as an escape from the certainty of the above careers. The Posies’ Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow recorded their seminal debut album Failure here, inspiring a host of residents, including local heroes Death Cab For Cutie. DCFC released their first album Something About Airplanes in 1998, and have gone on to become one of today’s most successful (fiercely) indie bands. In the spring of 1999, frontman Ben Gibbard, with some time on his hands between Death Cab albums, recorded a collection of songs under the moniker All-Time Quarterback.

Half the songs were recorded in what was then a home studio, exclusively using instruments that were broken in some way. The others were sparse acoustic songs recorded live to walkman. These recordings were released by Bellingham label Elsinor Records (who co-released Something About Airplanes with Barsuk), as a self-titled CD-EP and a cassette (The Envelope Sessions), respectively. Both are out of print, though the EP can still be found here and there. Using the same cover image from the CD-EP, Barsuk has released all of the above songs together (adding one outtake) on one CD. The other addition is a video for the opening track, “Plans Get Complex”, which follows a headphoned Gibbard around London trying to halt temptation. This is one of the most straightforward songs, using a simple drum machine track to keep the 3/4 beat under electric guitar and bass.

This configuration continues into “Dinner at Eight in the Suburbs” with the telling line “I left the timberline / For oil slicks and parking fines” (perhaps an allusion to the move from Bellingham to Seattle). What makes this collection interesting are the self-confessional songs. In “Sock Hop” the words “I took you out on Friday / We shared a milkshake at the sock hop / When we were done we went to watch the sunset / But it never sank as deep at my heart” are as evocative as any in describing young love. “I skipped the part of the storyline / With interesting characters and dialog / And sat alone to contemplate / The place of cigarettes in rock and roll fashion” Gibbard sings in “Untitled”, which ends with the line, “In this perfect world / Where nothing’s perfect / I am all alone”. In print the lyrics may come off as written by a self-pitying sad bastard, but there is none of it in the singer’s voice. It’s just how it is.

Many of the songs on All-Time Quarterback! could have worked as Death Cab songs, once given the same polish and luster as other DCFC recordings. But not all of these songs would have fit thematically onto his band’s releases. Gibbard’s genuine warmness and honesty comes through, with his usual clever, twisting lyrics and understated vocals. In fact, many of these songs sound warmer than the detached perfection of DCFC’s studio work. As a complete collection, Gibbard comes off as a sort of lo-fi Brian Wilson, with inventive choices of instrument and sounds. Whether it is a tuneless guitar or a toy piano (on the gorgeous cover of the Magnetic Field’s “Why I Cry”), Gibbard makes great use of found instruments. There is a sweetness even in the most desolate lyrics. There is no pretension to these songs; it’s just a guy playing for himself in a room somewhere, keeping out the little college town outside.