The songs on The Blue EP share a similar conception but different births to last year’s LP Thank You For Today. If thats to say theres a thematic thread, the lead single should prep you for a collection filled with melancholic nostalgia. Kids in 99 finds frontman Ben Gibbard reflecting on a deadly gas pipeline explosion that occurred 20 years ago in the bands hometown of Bellingham, Washington. One 18-year-old and two 10-year-old boys were killed in the incident, and the song juxtaposes that literal loss of innocence with a figurative one.