Adding to the recent string of indie pop songs that the Death Cab for Cutie frontman has been featured in, this brooding and grungy track from Seattle’s Sea Lemon—aka Natalie Lew—is a meeting point for both musician’s distinct indie rock eras. Ben Gibbard’s trademark low, whispery vocals fuel the song’s darkness, and Lew’s voice is shrouded in an airy mystique as she sings of using manifestation and looking for signs in nature as a way of coping. But while Lew’s verses are more lighthearted and abstract, Gibbard balances the optimism out with a stark dose of a straightforward, traditionally emo mentality—“It seems that all I wanna do is sleep these days / And wake up in about a year and not feel this way.” This meeting of the minds makes for a dreamy and fuzzy blend of the greatest parts of the genre, both new and old.
Seattle-based Natalie Lew has always had a creative mind, whether through designing, writing short fiction or, most recently, the dream-pop concoctions she records as Sea Lemon. Lew’s deceptively luminescent sonic world often hints at darker textures beneath the surface, and debut 2023 EP ‘Stop At Nothing’ balanced a cinematic clarity of vision with undertones of fear and longing. For driving new single “Crystals,” her first of 2024, Lew tapped Death Cab For Cutie frontman Benjamin Gibbard, a preexisting fan of Lew’s who had previously reached out to duet at a benefit show in Seattle both artists were playing. The resulting collaboration sounds both weightier and more exhilarating than anything Lew has released before: in a rousing arc, the duo’s complementary verses are a perfect pairing alongside a whirlwind of shimmering guitar and the joy felt with finally letting go.
Sea Lemon’s new single “Crystals (feat. Benjamin Gibbard)” is out now on Luminelle Recordings.
The Fat Angel Sings 