Enduring indie brethren Death Cab For Cutie have finally announced details of their new album, with Codes and Keys, the follow-up to 2008’s Narrow Stairs, scheduled for a US release on May 31 according to their official website.
Pitchfork reports anticipation had been growing at the prospect of the Washington quartet finalising the details of their seventh album since their 1998 debut, Something About Airplanes.
First single from Codes and Keys is reported likely to be You Are A Tourist, while at the production helm for the album was My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain and Killers producer Alan Moulder. The results of that seem to be that the band are moving in more synthy, atmospheric direction than the heavy guitars of yesteryear. The title track is said to be the bands first song to include a string section in ten years.
Bassist Nick Harmer told Stereogum last year, “There are definitely guitars on this record. There are just less of them than before, and we’re using them in different ways this time. Ben (Gibbard, frontman) was really inspired by writing on acoustic guitar and piano, so often those parts became voices or keyboard lines, rather than guitar parts. We really experimented with piecing the songs together in different ways and using the studio differently, so this is a much less guitar-centric album than we’ve ever made before.”
Death Cab have a few US shows lined up for May, though you’d think a more extensive world tour would be in the offing sometime later this year.
