“(This is) The Dream of Evan and Chan” – Dntel
(Words: Ben Gibbard, Music: Dntel, available on Life is Full of Possibilities, Plug Research 2001)

I’ve found that when I remember my dreams (I’m not really sure how often I do dream vividly, because I don’t always remember my dreams), they are usually tales of the mundane.  I’ve had many instances of déjà vu – the type of dreams so general and broad that they can probably apply to dozens of situations.  Regardless, there’s a definitive romance to the idea of dreaming about your own life and having it come true; it’s just usually in the concept of the extraordinary becoming reality.  Few people (that I know of, at least) talk about having dreams about everyday life, probably because everyday life is boring (or, perhaps “anti-idealistic” at least, as we’re quick to equate dreams with idealism).  Still, there’s a sense of bizarre empowerment to the idea that one’s dreams come true, even if the dreams are of random, mundane tasks and the whole concept of déjà vu are, to some, nothing more than synapses firing off in a certain predisposed sequence.

That being said, I’ve rarely had dreams about famous people, as Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard details in Dntel’s “(This is) the Dream of Evan and Chan”, describing a dream where he pictured Evan Dando of the Lemonheads and Chan Marshall of Cat Power together.  Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, the same duo that would later go on to record together as The Postal Service, create the perfect dreamscape for an electro-pop song.  Tamborello starts the track with a highly rhythmic static track that gradually gives way to a computerized beat and floating synthesizer that dominates most of the track.  As with most of the best Postal Service tracks, Gibbard’s voice takes center stage.  His everyman croon floats on top of Tamborello’s tightly programmed drums, detailing the different aspects of his dream within a dense wall of drums, synth, and static.

It’s no wonder than Tamborello and Gibbard struck gold together on the Give Up album; Tamborello’s distinctive production and Gibbard’s sweet and sappy vocals play off of the best parts of each other.  Even when Gibbard falls victim to his over-emotive clichés, Tamborello manages to shift our attention away from those cringe-worthy clichés that Death Cab for Cutie occasionally delve into towards an entrancing beat.  Even after Gibbard details his dream, the thirty repetitions of the word “ringing” at the end of the song (plus more fading out into the background) wouldn’t fit in a traditional indie-pop structure.  However, in “(This is) The Dream of Evan and Chan”, the repetitive ringing becomes the jarring sound of the phone that wakes us from that perfect dream that we don’t want to relinquish.  The song continues for another two minutes, desperately trying to recreate the perfect conditions where dreaming is possible, but just like those early mornings where the alarm jars us from our imaginative oasis, the song fades away, foregoing the land of dreams to the world of reality.

Even though I like the Postal Service album, I’ve always held an afinity for this track, perhaps because it’s a bit rougher (or at least much more static-laden), or perhaps because I think the Gibbard-Tamborello team his something special with this track by offering a brief glimpse into the world of the subconscious.  There’s a few gems (and I’m sure I’ll write about at least one of them) on Give Up, but nothing that recreates the frenetic dream-fueled energy of this song.

More on Dntel: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm