Death Cab for Cutie
NEW DIRECTION: Though Ben Gibbard, sitting, and his bandmates insist they made no conscious attempt to challenge their fans’ expectations, their upcoming album, “Narrow Stairs,” represents something of a left turn for Death Cab: Where 2005’s “Plans” emphasized the band’s well-known knack for pretty, introspective indie pop, the new CD explores thornier, noisier territory.
Read the story: A sharp turn for Death Cab for Cutie (Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times)
REFLECTIONS: Based in Seattle, where Chris Walla and singer-guitarist Ben Gibbard formed the band as a home-recording project in 1997, Death Cab has sold nearly 1 million copies of 2005’s “Plans,” its debut for Atlantic after a string of albums released by Barsuk, a hometown indie. Yet guitarist Walla says that the number of people the group plays to on tour indicates an audience much larger than that. “Maybe ‘Plans’ would’ve been a 7-million-selling record in 1994!” he exclaims. From left, Nick Harmer, Gibbard, Jason McGerr and Walla. (Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times)
LIVE: Death Cab for Cutie singer Ben Gibbard leading the band at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
AMBITIONS: “This band has grown bigger than any of our wildest dreams,” says frontman Ben Gibbard. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
