DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - MUSICAL STYLE

Death Cab for Cutie's early work on You Can Play These Song with Chords was described by Rolling Stones as "emotion through its lack of emotion". Pitchfork Media also remarked that the work on the cassette was "ultra-lo-fi". On Something About Airplanes the band's style remained similar, with some new instrumental work introduced; "flute, synth, or cello" were noted by Allmusic's Nitsuh Abede. On We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes the band again expanded their use of unorthodox instrument, including organ and glockenspiel. Pitchfork Media called them a "gentle niche" in the current rock climate, compared with bands such as Modest Mouse and Built to Spill.


Rolling Stone reviewed Transatlanticism and commented that it contained "melodic, melancholy songs about feeling both smart and confused, hopelessly romantic but wary of love." Gibbard's voice was described as "plaintive boy-next-door" Entertainment Weekly commented on the music on Plans, saying "The lush arrangements are long on hothouse organs and pianos, but short on the squirmy guitarist and squirrelly beats that, on Gibbard's best work, offset his sweet voice and borderline-maudlin poetics with a sense of emotional danger." The band's music on Plans was described by the Dallas Morning News as "literate, whispery style, the kind of stuff that normally sounds better in headphones than in large venues".

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - SIGNING to ATLANTIC

In November 2004, Death Cab for Cutie signed a "long-term worldwide deal" with Atlantic Records, leaving their long-time label Barsuk Records. Gibbard stated on the official website that nothing would change except that "next to picture of Barsuk holding a "7", there will be a letter "A" on both the spine and back of our upcoming albums". After signing to Atlantic, the band was still nervous about corporate economics, and encouraged fans to download its songs from the Internet.



The first and second singles from the band's Atlantic Records release Plans were "Soul Meets Body" and "Crooked Teeth" respectively (which they performed on Saturday Night Live on January 14, 2006). The full album was released in August 2005. Plans was well received by critics and fans, and received a nomination of the Grammy Award for the Best Alternative Album of 2005. It achieved Gold Status in 2006 after charting on Billboard for 47 consecutive weeks and was certified platinum by the RIAA at the beginning of May in 2008. The band released a touring DVD titled Drive Well, Sleep Carefully, in 2005. Known for their contribution to animal rights, the band is supporting the activist group PETA in giving away copies of the DVD to promote animal rights. In early 2006, the band announced the upcoming release of Directions, eleven short film inspired by songs from the Plans album, each directed by a different person. The videos were posted one at a time at the band's website and the DVD went on sale April 11, 2006. The iTunes Store began selling the videos (formatted for iPod) early on March 28, 2006. Lance Bangs, P.R. Brown, Ace Norton, Jeffrey Brown, Lightborne, Autumn de Wilde, Rob Schrab, Laurent Briet and Monkmus, as well as Aaron Stewart-Ahn, are among directors that have contributed to the project. An episode of MTV2's Subterranean played these videos for the whole hour plus discussion with members of the band. In 2006, the band made completed their lenghty 2006 tour of the USA on December 10, 2006, finishing with a show at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington.
Walla claimed on October 18, 2007 that the new album was "in full swing" and that they had six songs completed. He went on to call the music "weird", "spectacular", and "creepy", saying that it contained "lot of blood". He noted that the album had a "Can jam" that lasted for 10 minutes, which Walla said that he would have never imagined doing in 1998. In a Billboard piece in January '08, the band promised the album to be a "curve ball", and said that although it would have slower songs, there would be some surprises. Walla said, "I'm really excited about it. It's really got some teeth. The landscape of the thing is way, way more lunar than the urban meadow sort of thing that has been happening for the last couple of records.". Walla added that the album was "louder and more dissonant and.... abrasive." They claimed that they were influenced by "synth-punk band Brainiac." The album, titled Narrow Stairs, was released on May 12, 2008. The band released the first single, "I Will Posses Your Heart" from the album on March 18, 2008. It was met with plaudits from the band's official fan club, the DCFC Union, as well as some concern from more casual fans, saying the musical introduction, though powerful and emotive with the driving bass line, was too long. The radio edit version does not include the extended introduction. In an album reviews, MTV writer James Montgomery said that although "Death Cab for Cutie had gone insane," he also believes that it could make "an early contender for the best album of 2008". And eventually, would be nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award for the "Best Rock Song", as well as Narrow Stairs nominated for "Best Alternative Music Album". The band won in neither category, but prompted debate after appearing at the excessive use of Auto-Tune in the music industry. He also said that "Narrow Stairs is a great album, one that could make them very famous, but could very well also kill their careers." The album was their first album to reach #1 on the Billboard 200 chart on May 31, 2008. "No Sunlight" is the third single from the album. Bassist Nick Harmer has said that the band will release an EP in April. The EP is expected to contain songs left off of Narrow Stairs.

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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - GRAMMY NOMINATED INDIE BAND

Death Cab for Cutie is a Grammy nominated American indie rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consist of Benjamin Gibbard (vocalist, guitar), Chris Walla (guitar, production), Nicholas Harmer (bassist), and Jason McGerr (drummer). Gibbard took the band name from the title of the song written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall and performed by their group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in The Beatles' 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour. Their best-selling song currently is "I Will Possess Your Heart" on their most recent album, "Narrow Stairs". Gibbard's first album, You Can Play These Songs with Chords, was release as a demo, leading to a record deal with Barsuk Record. It was at this time that Gibbard decided to expand the project into a complete band, and recruited band members to join. The band has released six studio albums, four EPs, and one demo to date. Their most recent album, Narrow Stairs, was released on May 12, 2008 in the United Kingdom and was released on May 13, 2008 in the United States.

Death Cab for Cutie began as a solo project of Ben Gibbard while he was the guitar player for the band Pinwheel and was recording under the same name All-Time Quaterback. As Death Cab for Cutie, Gibbard released a cassette tittled You Can Play These Songs with Chords; the relesead was surprisingly successful and Gibbard decided to expand the band into the complete project. He recruited Chris Walla (who also had worked on the cassette) as a guitarist, Nick Harmer as a bassist, and Nathan Good to play drums. Death Cab for Cutie was officially formed at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington and lyrics from early songs include local references that were important to the band's development. Many of the early songs were recorded in the basement of an Ellis Street home Gibbard lived in with several roommates in Bellingham. The four released the LP Something About Airplanes on August 18, 1998. The album was favorably reviewed in the independent music scene and in the 2000 the band released the We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes. Nathan Good left the band at some point during this album's production. His playing on "The Employment Pages" and "Company Calls Epilogue" was kept, but Gibbard played drums on all other songs. Good's replacement Jayson Tolzdorf-Larson joined the band during the recording of their second record, We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes. Although Jayson did not contributed to the album, he did appear on the song, "Spring Break Broke" from "Death Cab for Fiver "7" record. He also joined the band on two tours, including their first full U.S tour. He was later replaced by Micheal Schorr who would first appear on The Forbidden Love EP, released on October 24, 2000. In 2001, another LP was released, entitled The Photo Album. Limited editions of this album contained three bonus tracks, which were later released separately as The Stability EP.
In 2003, there was yet another change of drummer, with Jason McGerr of Eureka Farm replacing Schorr. McGerr would play drums on the next release, Transatlanticism, which was release in October 2003. Tracks from the album appeared in the soundtracks of the television shows The O.C, Six Feet Under, CSI : Miami and Californication. The 2005 movies Wedding Crashers and Mean Creek also included album tracks. In spring of 2004, the band recorded a live EP titled The John Byrd EP, named for their sound engineer. The EP was released on Barsuk Records in March 2004.

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