Death Cab for Cutie is back with a new single and an album on the way, as announced Monday (March 16).
Bandmates Ben Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer, Jason McGerr, Dave Depper and Zac Rae revealed that I Built You a Tower — their first LP since 2022 — will arrive June 5 via ANTI- Records. It’s preceded by “Riptides,” a harrowing track that dropped the day of the announcement and explores “the challenge of dealing with personal struggles as the world around us experiences tragedy and loss on an unfathomable scale,” Gibbard said in a statement.
He added that the song is also about “how when these two elements intertwine themselves in our psyches, it feels utterly paralyzing.”
The song’s visual features the band performing under a colorful light show, with purple and blue hues bouncing off the musicians’ silhouettes and shadows. It gives fans their first taste of the contemplative moodiness on I Built You a Tower, which Gibbard wrote while navigating the stress of fronting two bands — beginning in 2023, he led both Death Cab and Postal Service on a joint nostalgia tour — while his personal life was at the point of “collapse,” according to a press release.
“There’s this need to find a place in ourselves to put loss and grief,” Gibbard said of the LP in a statement. “A place that can hold it so we can move on with our lives. But there are these moments where the trauma breaks out of that shell we created for it.”
Death Cab last dropped an album four years ago, reaching No. 60 on the Billboard 200 with Asphalt Meadows. The rockers have notched 10 total entries on the chart, including the No. 1 album Narrow Stairs (2008).
After releasing I Built You a Tower, Death Cab will embark on a tour kicking off in May. The trek will span North America and Europe with support from Jay Som, Japanese Breakfast, Nation of Language and Lala Lala.
Watch the “Riptides” music video below.
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