Such Great Heights

When the Postal Service first came out with "Such Great Heights," the song seemed more inconsequential and silly to me than several of the songs Ben Gibbard has written for Death Cab for Cutie.

But this week, I heard Sam Beam sing a very slow, acoustic version of the same song on Iron & Wine's excellent two-disc set of B-sides, rarities, and leftovers, Around the Well. It brought up two images: the Victorian-era bathers waving on the cover of Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (pictured); and the Hardy Boys-style zeppelin pilots named the Chums of Chance, in Thomas Pynchon's novel Against the Day. No real point here, though something in the sounds and visions makes me shiver, hard to tell whether it's in joy or terror:

"They will see us waving from such great heights,
'Come down now!' they'll say.
But everything looks perfect from far away,
'Come down now!' but we'll stay."

Big Day for New Music

Last time I checked, we had Nellie McKay, Band of Horses, Steve Earle, Iron and Wine, Joni Mitchell, Foo Fighters, Weakerthans all slated for Sept. 25 intros. And two No-Necks, a reissue and a new one. P.J. Harvey delayed her long-awaited scary-solo-piano album til next week, where she only has to compete with Bruce Springsteen and E Street. Sheesh.

(HEY! My snap reviews of Iron and Wine, Nellie, Weakerthans, Davendra, and Joni are in the Comments for this post. Foo Fighters, Band of Horses, and Steve Earle will have to wait.)