Death Cab For Cutie

Death Cab for Cutie's rise from small-time solo project to emotive, Grammy-nominated rock quartet is one of indie rock's greatest success stories. Originally formed in the musically fertile region of Bellingham, Washington, in 1997 as a solo project for singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard, Death Cab for Cutie grew into a huge underground musical sensation that came to define the emo genre in the early 2000s. Gibbard's first album, You Can Play These Songs with Chords, was released as a demo, leading to a record deal with Barsuk Records. Tracks from Death Cab For Cutie's latest album Transatlanticism have appeared in the soundtracks of television shows The OC, Six Feet Under, CSI: Miami, and the films Wedding Crashers and Mean Creek. Transatlanticism received critical praise and also became the band's top-selling album, with 225,000 copies sold during its first year out. It later achieved Gold Status in 2006.

By their seventh studio album, many bands are running out of creative steam and original ideas. But in the case of Death Cab for Cutie, nothing could be further from the truth. Codes and Keys is singular in the quartet's catalog when it comes to sonic exploration and lyrical ambition. If anything, the band has never sounded more excited to experiment with textures, words, sounds and even the process of recording itself.