Death Cab for Cutie’s debut came out in 1999 and they return to their indie roots with “I Built You a Tower, ” their first on an indie label since their early days. Producer John Congleton designed the sessions to be a short three week period of intense recording. The result is an album of raw, immediate energy.
The tower referred to in the name of the album is a metaphor for the structure frontman Ben Gibbard uses to lock away painful memories. Through the songs he is processing the emotional wreckage of a recent, devastating divorce.
As always Death Cab balances sonic extremes, from ambient synth driven songs to some of the most explosive guitar feedback they have recorded in years.
The band has grown up with their audience and provides a highly relatable and very adult perspective on coping with complex trauma. “I Built You A Tower” is not a return to form that many bands who have been around as long as they have resort to, it’s a continuation of the form that they invented all those years ago.