Advertisement

Don’t sleep on Benjamin Gibbard’s song-by-song re-creation of Teenage Fanclub’s ‘Bandwagonesque’

Benjamin Gibbard with Death Cab for Cutie at the Hollywood Bowl in 2015.
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
Share
Pop Music Critic

Did the universe need this? Probably not.

But fans of Death Cab for Cutie and Teenage Fanclub -- and jangly, guitar-based indie pop in general -- will be pleased to have it. Willed into being by the proudly fussy music-and-food website Turntable Kitchen, “Bandwagonesque” is Death Cab frontman Benjamin Gibbard’s song-by-song re-creation of the Scottish band’s 1991 album (which semi-famously topped Nirvana’s “Nevermind” on Spin magazine’s year-end list).

In the U.S., Teenage Fanclub never amounted to much more than a critical fave, but the fuzzy riffs and sweet vocal harmonies on “Bandwagonesque” clearly made a formative impact on the teenage Gibbard.

His exacting tribute is as warm as it is faithful.

Benjamin Gibbard

Advertisement

“Bandwagonesque”

(Canvasback Music/Turntable Kitchen)

mikael.wood@latimes.com

Twitter: @mikaelwood

Advertisement