Codes and Keys:

[via Stereogum]

Death Cab For Cutie (which we love) is coming out with a new album this spring. And I have been reading tons of articles and interviews about it.

From Stereogum:

"For those of us who were fans of Death Cab For Cutie back in the prehistoric days of the early 2000’s, the band’s startling rise to indie-fame has been bittersweet. While it’s always sweet to see a band you love — particularly an earnest band of genuinely nice dudes who write beautiful, melodic pop songs — become successful, there is (at least for some of us) a certain sense of loss involved. It’s a sad trait belonging to those for whom musical nerdery is a lifelong defining characteristic — a sense of ownership over the little bands that you love. It’s like seeing a Smith’s t-shirt for sale at Hot Topic or hearing an old Cure song played in an Old Navy commercial — you realize that the things you love no longer belong to just you (not that they ever really did), but that they now belong to the world. At this point — six albums and over a decade deep into their career — Death Cab For Cutie officially belong to the world."

My sentiments exactly. But I'm worried because with their move to a bigger label, using a big name producer, and with Benjamin Gibbard married to a celebrity actress, I wonder if it will change their sound. Will they continue to krank out songs full of "sublime, intimate melancholy" or will they sell out like so many other bands (Green Day, U2, Jimmy Eat World, etc)? Will I not like them after this? Am I better off choosing not to listen to the new album? Can I even do that?

Bassist Nick Harmer, in his interview with Stereogum, assures us that they are staying true to their roots:
"Of course, Ben will always gravitate towards certain bittersweet material in his songs, but this record has a lot of expansive, soundscapey kinds of things. Thematically and musically, it’s just much more varied. We also have string sections on this record, which is very exciting for all of us. We’ve always wanted to hear that texture in our music, but it never really worked out before.”

Here's hoping.