Death Cab for Cutie

Though sometimes pegged as an Americana band, Death Can for Cutie were originally Anglophilic enough to take their name from a song by the UK cult figures the Bonzo Dog Band. The group began as a college project by Ben Gibbard, who was studying music and engineering at Western Washington University. College friend Chris Walla helped with a tape of his demos, and the two became the core of the band lineup (initially with drummer Nathan Good and bassist Nick Harmer, Gibbard's roommate). The band's first album Something About Airplanes came out in 1998; the sound was dreamy guitar-centered pop with a psychedelic tinge and a hazy Northwestern ambiance. They built an underground buzz through touring and festival shows, particularly a South by Southwest appearance behind the debut. The third album The Photo Album (2001) had three charting singles in the UK, and began the group's long association with U.S. television, with tracks appearing on a number of series. The band's fourth album Transatlanticism featured some of Gibbard's strongest melodies and was widely praised, named by NPR as one of the new decade's most important records. By now they'd been regularly courted by major labels, and in 2005 they signed with Atlantic and released their commercial breakthrough, Plans. It spawned three alternative hits ("Soul Meets Body," "Crooked Teeth" and "I Will Follow You Into the Dark"), hit #4 on the Billboard Top 100 and went platinum. The followup Narrow Stairs did even better, debuting at Number One even though the songs came out of a dark period in Gibbard's life and the band considered this its weirdest album. Leftover songs were later released on the Open Door EP. Around this time Gibbard made his first appearances in gossip columns, marrying actress Zooey Deschanel and divorcing her four years later. After a short break the band went in a different direction for 2011's Codes and Keys. Influenced by Brian Eno, it toned down the guitars in favor of more keyboards and melody. In contrast the following Kintsugi was more rocking and straightforward. Their first album to use an outside producer (Rich Costey), it was also the last with Walla, who'd been with Gibbard the band's only consistent member. Costey returned on the band's 2018 release, Thank You For Today, which introduced a new Death Cab lineup with guitar/keys players Dave Depper and Zac Rae.