Death Cab for Cutie
USA | Indie Rock / Indie Pop | 1997 - present
Death Cab for Cutie is an American indie rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. It began as a solo project of Ben Gibbard, now the band's vocalist and guitarist. Gibbard took the band name from the title of the song written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall and performed by their group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in the Beatles' 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour.
Gibbard's first album, You Can Play These Songs with Chords, was released as a demo, leading to a record deal with Barsuk Records. It was at this time that Gibbard decided to expand the project into a complete band, and recruited band members to join. The band has released eight albums to date. Their most recent album, Narrow Stairs, was released on May 12, 2008 in the United Kingdom and was released on May 13, 2008 in the United States.
Death Cab for Cutie's music is typically described as indie. The band's music has been described as "a literate, whispery style, the kind of stuff that normally sounds better in headphones than in large venues". Gibbard's voice has also been described as "plaintive boy-next-door" and that his high tenor voice is "remarkable, vulnerable, and Zen-like".
Rolling Stone reviewed Transatlanticism and commented that it was "melodic, melancholy songs about feeling both smart and confused, hopelessly romantic but wary of love." The album has also been described as "perfectly paced song cycles about love wracked by distance and time's march." Entertainment Weekly commented on the music on the album, Plans, saying, "The lush arrangements are long on hothouse organs and pianos, but short on the squirmy guitars and squirrelly beats that, on Gibbard's best work, offset his sweet voice and borderline-maudlin poetics with a sense of emotional danger."