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Death Cab for Cutie returns to their roots.
After three decades as a band, musicians often slip into conformity and make music that’s comfortable, easy or lucrative. Washington-founded rock band Death Cab for Cutie almost fell into the same trap—but the group’s new record, I Built You a Tower, broke the pattern and revived the soul-sucking indie-rock sound that won them fame to begin with.
Now, Death Cab is heading to Walnut Creek July 22 with indie-pop girly Japanese Breakfast and a new setlist in tow.
I Built You a Tower—Death Cab’s first album in four years and guitarist Dave Depper’s third album with the group—was recorded faster than any of their previous records. “If the material is good, then it’s beneficial to not ‘overegg the pudding,’ as the British would say,” maintains Depper.
Rather than overthinking, Death Cab took the opportunity to just do, resulting in a return of their clean—but not overproduced—sound that bolstered them to the status of indie figureheads. And, parallel to earlier albums like Transatlanticism and Narrow Stairs, sorrow takes center stage.
“It’s an emotional song cycle for Ben [Gibbard],” Depper tells RM of DCFC’s frontman. “I think some of his albums are more thematically unified than other ones, and this one has a very strong through line with all of its songs, which is to its benefit.”
Cathartic and melancholy, I Built You a Tower wasn’t always meant to have the rush of sorrow it serves the listener. Death Cab wrote together and demoed around 90 tracks before the 11 final selects came out of the woodwork. “I’m not exaggerating—there really were that many,” Depper emphasizes. “A lot of them didn’t have anything to do with that topic. … Songs just started selecting each other and a cohesive body made itself known.”
The new record also serves as a looking glass for change, as the group recently switched labels. After spending two decades with Atlantic (the label behind ABBA and Zeppelin), Death Cab opted for indie label ANTI‐ Records, known to represent smaller artists with cult followings—including NC-based MJ Lenderman—and many with the same succinct sorrow in their songs. And Death Cab for Cutie seems to fit right in. After all, they know a thing or two about wearing their hearts on their sleeves. livenation.com
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