Webbage: Music To Eat Nibs By

To describe an album  as 'comfort food' might seem to damn it with faint praise, but it seems rather appropriate in the case of Plans. I've recently come to appreciate Ben Gibbard's songwriting, and Plans is a great sounding album, but I wouldn't describe it as 'challenging'. I will, however, say this-- As someone whose tastes tend to gather at the (perhaps not all that opposite) poles of the obviously commercial (70s Gordon Lightfoot) and avant guard (whatever side project Mike Patton is onto these days), I like to think that producing good music of either type should be counted a significant achievement. Having said that, I have no clue as to what metrics would be helpful in deciding what 'good' might be in either case. This clearly requires further thought.