Death Cab for Cutie is officially back with new music. The band has announced their 11th studio album, I Built You A Tower, set for release on June 5th, and are sharing the first taste of the album via their new song "Riptide."
I Built You A Tower marks a significant moment in the band’s career, as it signals their return to independent music, and frontman Benjamin Gibbard is joined once again by bandmates Nicholas Harmer, Jason McGerr, Dave Depper and Zac Rae for the new project, which was produced and engineered by acclaimed producer John Congleton.
According to the band, I Built You A Tower came together quickly, with the entire album assembled from just three weeks of recording sessions. The tight timeline helped capture the band’s creative chemistry and live energy in the studio, resulting in a project that reflects both their longtime musical bond and evolving sound. In a statement, Depper shared, "The anniversary tours exorcised any nostalgia in our systems. We feltpartof this powerful force greater than all of us and went into the studio with a sense of, how can we capture that feeling and put it into something new? "Harmer continued, "The whole experience of this record got us back to the earliest versions of thisband: If the musicians in the room like what we’re working on, that’s enough. We reconnected with the confidence that comes withthat."
And on their new single "Riptide," Gibbard explained, "'Riptides' is about the challenge of dealing with personal struggles as the world around us experiences tragedy and loss on an unfathomable scale. And how when these two elements intertwine themselves in our psyches, it feels utterly paralyzing."