Death Cab for Cutie: kindly stopping for us

Watch out Bright Eyes and Nada Surf: Death Cab for Cutie is fast on its way to becoming the next indie darling. A few weeks ago, the teen drama "The O.C." gave a shout-out to the pop-rock group. With their mellowy disposition and velvety guitar riffs, Death Cab's melodies are the perfect backdrop for a breezy, sunlight-dripping California afternoon. On "Tiny Vessels," from their latest album Transatlanticism, guitarist and singer Ben Gibbard even pays homage, singing "I spent two weeks in Silverlake/ the California sun cascading down my face."

Nevertheless, the light chords and the Cali' references can't change the fact that the group is from Bellingham, Wash., where the sun doesn't come out much and the prevailing atmosphere is a bit murky. It also doesn't hide the fact that the band, which also includes bassist Nick Harmer, guitarist/keyboardist Chris Walla and drummer Jason McGerr, has been firmly entrenched in the indie scene for the past six years.

So then, it's only fitting that this Death Cab is pulling up and playing a set at the local epitome of the indie scene, the Cat's Cradle. Prepare for a night of cascading songs and star-crossed melodrama.

Overwrought romantic Gibbard--whom you might also recognize as the vocalist of the buzzworthy Postal Service, where he made mad robotic love songs--pens and croons all of his lyrics. "The squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse" from "Expo '86" is Transatlanticism's nod toward the Postal Service, but the album still features plenty of Gibbard's doe-eyed serenades. And when you hear him sing, "I wish the world was flat like the old days/ then I could travel just by folding a map/ no more airplanes, or speedtrains, or freeways/ there'd be no distance that can hold us back," you can't help but remember past loves gone wrong or that girl next door and feel a little sappily nostalgic.