Listen: Ben Gibbard’s new song for ‘Arthur,’ OK Go’s for ‘Greatest Movie’

The week is starting off strong with soundtrack news, or at the very least, there’s a pair of new movie tracks to be purveyed.

Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard penned an exclusive track, below, for the forthcoming “Arthur” remake, starring Russell Brand. Dubbed “When the Sun Goes Down on Your Street,” the upbeat track features some very live bass drum sounds and some sunny acoustic guitar lines. Gibbard busts out some soothing vocabulary, recommending you “step into the night / it’ll alright,” presumably for when Brand’s rich man-child is feeling gloomy.

It comes ahead of a new DCFC effort, “Codes & Keys,” out on May 31. But this is clearly a solo spot, so I wouldn’t care to cast judgment of this song on what that full band effort may be like. Go ahead and judge that by the band’s first single, heard here.

Coincidentally, this comes after news last week that Gibbard’s lovely wife, actress and singer Zooey Deschanel, will be leaving her own mark on the “Winnie the Pooh” soundtrack. It’s all very cute.

Then there OK Go’s “The Greatest Song I Ever Heard,” for Morgan Spurlock’s “POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.” That Sundance-picked flick focuses in on product placements and the movie-making industry in America, while this treadmill-dancing rock troupe continues to try to make cash off their own viral music videos. So, guys, is there a clip forthcoming?

Watch the trailer to the film here. Yes, it features some of the track.

[More after the jump…]

The theme song came to fruition (get it? POM?) when the band was approached on camera, decision to do it made right then and there. The result is a loose-stringed, open-tuned stomp-and-clapper, Damian Kulash’s voice buried behind bells and a choir. According to Rolling Stone, who is hosting an exclusive stream of the track, the track was inspired by — and references — Bob Dylan’s appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and mid-period Beatles. Just you wait for that late vamped chorus, then you’ll understand.

Ben Gibbard – When the Sun Goes Down by WaterTowerMusic

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