How Death Cab for Cutie kept indie rock alive

Led by Ben Gibbard since its inception in 1998, Death Cab for Cutie is one of the defining bands of the indie rock era.

While “Kintsugi” marks the first Death Cab for Cutie album not produced by former guitarist Chris Walla, it represents a continuation of the modern Americana that the band has created with Ben Gibbard’s soft, sweeping voice and the band’s ambitious arrangements.

“The Photo Album” (2001): Death Cab for Cutie’s third LP, “The Photo Album” (Barsuk Records), was the first real indicator that this was a great band in the making.

The band’s first chart single, “Movie Script Ending,” is the finest example of this, yet the instruments aren’t marginalized, as the track explodes through nasty riffs and a methodical snare into a gritty goose-bump-inducing crescendo.

The snare drums became a defining feature of the band’s sound, and on “We Laugh Indoors,” Gibbard’s simple arrangement is confident enough to stand on the strength of just the snare as he repeats the chorus, I loved you, Guinevere.

Look no further than the album’s third track, “Title and Registration,” where Gibbard and Walla began experimenting with electronic elements like a drum machine, which they used heavily in Gibbard’s overtly electronic Postal Service supergroup (also produced by Walla).

The group’s major-label debut went platinum and featured the defining moment of Ben Gibbard’s songwriting career, the single “Soul Meets Body.”

On the orchestral album opener “Marching Bands of Manhattan,” Gibbard sings, “Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole/ Just like a faucet that leaks, and there is comfort in the sound.”

“I Will Follow You Into the Dark” became the signature sing-along at concerts, and “Plans” elevated the band from indie darlings to a force within the mainstream.

From the reflective themes, guitar hook and electronic elements of single “Black Sun” to the happy-go-lucky vibe of “The Ghosts of Beverly Drive” that we’ve come to expect somewhere on a Death Cab for Cutie album, it’s a charming addition to the band’s discography and shows that there’s still gas in the tank for Gibbard and company.