Huzzah! Tonight’s Firefly lineup actually includes a band whose name I recognize. After a string of successful albums in the ’00s, Death Cab seemed to peak in 2008 with its “Narrow Stairs” album, which included this melancholy retelling of “Wuthering Heights.”
Songwriter Ben Gibbard, who started the band as a solo project, is known for his literate lyrics, which he hides here behind a wall of jangly guitars and melancholic regret, but lines like “She holds a smile/Like someone would hold/A crying child” shine through. The mini-movie video stars Lukas Haas, who starred in “Witness” as a child, in the Heathcliff role, but most of its plot points are taken directly from Gibbard’s cinematic wedding scene. BTW, I checked the set lists of the current tour. Expect to hear this tune near the end of the set.
