Blog: PopMatters

Death Cab for Cutie via Cat Stevens from Brooklyn. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, right... Smiley. That's the one, upsettingly impotent word that comes to mind whenever I consider "Nothing Gold Can Stay". It's there, in the cross between frothy folk and bluesy Americana, in Simone Felice's sun-soaked vocal chords, and most of all in his knack for rather silly poetics (more of which later). Incidentally, one piece of promo material I received with The Duke and the King's debut declared these "twelve songs for summer". Summer. Sunny. Happy. Smiley....