With I Built You A Tower out now and an Australian tour on the horizon, Death Cab for Cutie are looking forward, not back.
Today sees the release of I Built You A Tower, the band’s first album since 2022’s Asphalt Meadows and a record that finds the veteran indie outfit reconnecting with the directness and emotional clarity that first made them beloved.
Produced by John Congleton, the album strips things back to the chemistry of five musicians in a room, balancing moments of grief, hope and reflection with some of the band’s most immediate songwriting in years.
This November, Australian fans will get their first chance to hear those songs live when Death Cab return for a run of east coast headline dates in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
It also marks the band’s first visit since 2019, ending a seven-year absence that has only heightened anticipation among local audiences.
Ahead of the album’s release and their long-awaited return to Australia, we caught up with bassist Nick Harmer to talk coffee rituals, rainy Seattle mornings, anniversary tours, creative longevity and why Death Cab still feel driven to impress each other three decades into their career.
HAPPY: What does a typical breakfast look like for you on tour versus at home?
NH: I don’t really have a typical meal for breakfast but I do try and start every day with a good cup of coffee.
On tour, I’m lucky because my bandmates are really knowledgeable about making good coffee so they have taught me over the years how to make a really great pour over cup.
We have a small coffee set up that we travel with and we buy good beans from local coffee shops along the way.
The coffee is so good on tour that I bought the same coffee making supplies for my home too!
So, my typical breakfast at home and on the road is pretty much the same.
HAPPY: Tell us a little bit about where you live and what you love about it.
NH: I live in Seattle. It’s a medium sized city located on the waters of Puget Sound in Washington state with large fresh water lakes nearby too.
Most people know my city from the “grunge” music explosion of the 1990s and also the birthplace of Amazon, Starbucks and Microsoft.
I love the city because of the climate, we get four distinct seasons a year, the summers are fairly mild and most importantly, it rains a lot, which I love.
I enjoy how close all the outdoor activities are, skiing, hiking, etc but really what I love most about Seattle is the rain.
There is nothing quite like a grey, rainy day in Seattle, the prefect backdrop for introspection and reflection.
HAPPY: After spending so much time revisiting older records on the anniversary tours, did it change the way you approached this new album as a band?
NH: It didn’t change the way we approached this new album directly but it was a nice boost of confidence and reflection of what we have been good at as a band over the years.
I think that sometimes we can be too focused on the future and what is happening next and every so often it is nice to turn around a take a moment to appreciate everything we have done.
HAPPY: This record feels more immediate and raw compared to some of your recent releases. Did you consciously want to capture more of a live-band energy in the studio?
NH: We definitely did. When we were playing the anniversary shows, we were all reminded of how direct and immediate a lot of our early material was in terms of performance.
And we made a conscious decision to try and capture that energy of the five of us playing in a room, with as minimal extra studio adornment as possible.
HAPPY: You’re heading back to Australia soon — what’s your relationship with Aussie crowds like these days? Do shows here still feel different from elsewhere?
NH: Australia was one of the first countries outside of the US to really embrace us as a band years ago.
Through the Architecture Label we found and connected with a scene of like minded musicians and creatives that really felt like an extension of our friends and peers in the US.
The shows have always felt great and we feel so lucky that our music has connected with an audience so far away from home.
HAPPY: The band’s chemistry feels especially tight on I Built You A Tower. After this long together, how do you keep the creative process feeling fresh?
NH: I think what keeps our process feeling fresh is that deep down we all still want to impress each other, we all seek that “high five” moment when we come up with an idea that every else likes.
I know that is important to me, I work hard to try and write bass parts and find musical suggestions that my bandmates will think are interesting and spark them to do the same.
When you’re in that kind of environment, creating together, it’s always exciting and everyone is always pushing to discover new ways to get everyone else hyped.
HAPPY: There’s a real balance on the album between heavier themes and more melodic, uplifting moments. Was that contrast something that naturally emerged while recording?
NH: That all comes from the demos that Ben writes. He is a prolific writer and we all work together to pare the demos down into a cohesive album.
I guess you could say that the album emerged naturally during that process but also, Ben was very intentional from the very first demos to explore that balance between the lightness and darkness both musically and lyrically.
HAPPY: Death Cab have gone through a lot of sonic shifts over the years. Do you still think about what a “Death Cab for Cutie record” is supposed to sound like?
NH: We don’t ever talk about what our records are supposed to sound like, but we do talk about making music that sounds like “us.”
At this point in our career, we know what we are good at and what we aren’t and we’re comfortable and secure with the music that this lineup naturally creates.
We try not to second guess ourselves and let doubt creep in about what people will think about the work.
I think once you start creating to satisfy expectations outside of yourself, you’re in very dark waters.
HAPPY: You recorded this album pretty quickly compared to some past releases. Did moving faster help preserve some of the emotion and spontaneity?
NH: Absolutely. We are all very driven musicians and we each are highly critical of ourselves which can easily turn into chasing perfectionism in the studio.
Because our producer, John Congelton, kept us moving at at a quick pace we didn’t have time to put an unnecessary microscope on our performances and derail the emotional energy we were trying to capture.
HAPPY: Anniversary tours can easily become nostalgia exercises, but this album feels really forward-looking. Did revisiting those older records creatively reset the band in any way?
NH: I think so. I mean, maybe not a reset, but those anniversary shows were a nice reminder of what our strengths have been over the years.
And we carried that confidence into the studio for sure.
HAPPY: Australian fans have followed the band for decades now. Are there songs you’re especially excited to finally bring over on this run?
NH: We didn’t get a chance to tour Australia during the Asphalt Meadows tour cycle, so not only do we have that album’s worth of material to share, but we have this new album too!
Plus, we have all the deep cuts from the anniversary tours of Transatlantiscim and Plans to incorporate into the sets as well. I think it’s going to be hard for us to choose what to play.
HAPPY: Thirty years in, what still surprises you most about being in Death Cab for Cutie?
NH: I just feel so lucky that we are still an active band and able to tour the world.
The music industry is a difficult, challenging and confusing system to navigate and every day there is some new way that artists are having their livelihood threatened.
I am grateful for the past thirty years and I hope we’re lucky enough for thirty more.
HAPPY: What’s something outside of music that’s been making you happy lately?
NH: I find joy in my family, my dog and my cat, and in a grey, rainy morning with a good cup of coffee and a vinyl record spinning.
Listen to I built You A Tower below and head to their website for tour info.
