Death Cab for Cutie - I Built You a Tower (June 5, 2026) Album • Page 5

New song is a steady eddie, but I'll always check out new DCFC regardless.

 

that's interesting. Photo Album is not too far away from the sound of Trans IMO

 

I think Sam Beam is the only "I wish he still sang like he used to" vocalist for me.

 

Yesss same. Sounds right up there with The Promise Ring, Braid, The Get Up Kids, etc etc, and that's exactly my warm happy place.

 

I recently listened to some American Analog Set and I really enjoyed what I heard. Kind of feels like Death Cab meets Wilco

 

Yeah I dunno, it's more that I simply don't like the songs than the style I guess

 

they are the best. pretty sure Ben is a big fan of them and he was featured on a re-released version of this song

 

this is so fucked up

their best song next to "Brothers on a Hotel Bed" for my money

thank you for this, going to through it on during lunch

 

"She's Half" is probably my favorite song. Like of all songs

 

"Punk as Fuck" is the one. I actually thought it was Ben singing the first time I heard it lol

 

The Kindness of Strangers was always my favorite. Speaking of The American Analog Set, that Ben Gibbard/Andrew Kenny EP is excellent.

 

Their most recent post-hiatus album For Forever is so goddamn good

 

I learned about them in 2005 thanks to a CD-R being passed to me with a bunch of mislabeled tracks. God I miss those days.

 

I enjoy somewhere around 90% of their songs regardless of era , so much good stuff

 

Think I'm finally coming around on Thank You For Today. Not just me who thinks Gold Rush would be at least 36% better without the 'gold rush' hook? Totally oversells the song.

 

It’s sooooo cheesy.

 

If they even cut the little slide guitar part it would be so much better

 

Finally jammed riptides in the whip and I’m fully on board. Kinda gives narrow stairs/trans b-side

 

Your Hurricane is so fucking good goddamn

 

Lauren’s vocals in Northern Lights need to be turned up 200%

 

This is so funny I just came to the thread to discuss this. I think every album post Narrow Stairs is at least half great, but there is something about the mixing of having his voice so up-front/Ben's increasingly vibrato-y singing that makes the not very good songs even that much cheesier sounding. Not every song is mixed that way but in some cases it's gotten kind of cringy. That being said, the first halves of Kintsugi and Codes and Keys....and most of Thank you for today and Asphalt Meadows are great. I think Chris Walla did a better job of burying Ben's voice lol

 

It's definitely the vibrato for me too. It's just a little too clean and technical sounding for what I want from the band. Trans and Plans eras were like...the perfect middle-ground, imo.

 

I have found a new love for The Photo Album. Listened to it for the first time in at least 10 years and it hits super hard. Think it might be their second best album, after Transatlanticism.

 

Something about Ben’s voice changed on either plans or narrow stairs I agree and I don’t like it as much. I remember thinking during the Covid streams that he sounded closer to the old days so I think it’s as much in the production and mixing as in the actual recorded performances.

Their discography up through transatlanticism is legitimately perfect, but I don’t love anything after. Plans is pretty good, but a noticeable step down, and then it’s real diminishing returns for me from there. That said there is almost always at least one or two truly great songs on each album so I’ll always be open to a new DCFC release. I appreciate that they’re seemingly gonna just go on forever a lot more now than I did when I was busy being mad at narrow stairs or w/e. Good band!

 

This thread continues to make me sad.