I Built You A Tower emerges from personal struggles, milestone tours, and a renewed indie ethos
Indie-rock stalwarts and eight-time GRAMMY nominees Death Cab for Cutie – Benjamin Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer, Jason McGerr, Dave Depper, and Zac Rae – are back with their 11th studio album, I Built You A Tower, set to drop June 5 via ANTI- Records.
The record marks a return to the band’s independent roots after two decades on Atlantic Records.
Produced and engineered by John Congleton, the album was stitched together in just three weeks across sessions at Animal Rites in Los Angeles, as well as the members’ homes in Seattle, Bellingham, Los Angeles, and Portland.
The first single, ‘Riptides.’ Gibbard explains – is about navigating personal struggles while the world endures its own tragedies – “When these two elements intertwine themselves in our psyches, it feels utterly paralysing,” he says.
The album grows out of recent milestone tours celebrating the 20th anniversaries of Transatlanticism and Plans.
Behind the scenes, Gibbard was balancing arena shows with Death Cab and The Postal Service, while managing upheaval in his personal life.
The “tower” concept was born as a way to compartmentalize grief and trauma, creating space to move forward.
For the band, I Built You A Tower is about reconnecting with their earliest instincts. “If the musicians in the room like what we’re working on, that’s enough,” Harmer says. Depper adds, “The anniversary tours exorcised any nostalgia in our systems… we went into the studio wanting to capture that feeling and turn it into something new.”
Pre-order I Built You A Tower now.
