The American indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie was formed in 1997 in Bellingham, Washington, as a solo project by Ben Gibbard. Initially, Gibbard recorded the cassette tape You Can Play These Songs With Chords. The positive local response motivated him to turn the project into a full-fledged band.
With Ben Gibbard on vocals, guitar, and keyboards, Nicholas Harmer on bass, Nathan Good on drums, and Chris Walla on guitar and keyboards, Death Cab for Cutie released their debut album, Something About Airplanes, in 1998 on Barsuk Records. Two years later came We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes, an album recorded during a transitional period on drums following Nathan Good’s departure; he was soon replaced by Michael Schorr.
In 2001, the group released The Photo Album. The following year, You Can Play These Songs With Chords was reissued by Barsuk in an expanded edition, bringing together the original recordings, rarities, outtakes, and versions recorded between the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In 2003, Jason McGerr took over on drums in place of Michael Schorr, solidifying the lineup that would define the band’s most iconic phase. That same year, Death Cab for Cutie released Transatlanticism, an album that dramatically expanded their critical and commercial reach, driven by tracks such as “The New Year,” “Title and Registration,” and “The Sound of Settling.” The inclusion of their songs on the soundtracks of hit TV series, such as The O.C., helped introduce the group to an even wider audience.
In 2004, the band left Barsuk Records and signed with Atlantic Records. The first result of this new phase was the 2005 album Plans, which featured one of the group’s best-known songs, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.” They followed that with Narrow Stairs (2008), then the EP The Open Door (2009), and Codes and Keys (2011), the latter of which explored more electronic textures and atmospheric arrangements.
The year 2014 was marked by the announcement of Chris Walla’s departure, bringing to a close a long and prolific creative partnership with Gibbard, Harmer, and McGerr. Despite his departure, Walla still participated in the recording of the album Kintsugi, released in 2015. From then on, musicians Dave Depper and Zac Rae were officially added to the lineup, making their debut on the 2018 album Thank You for Today.
Produced by John Congleton, Asphalt Meadows, the band’s tenth studio album, arrived in 2022, recapturing the intensity of their more guitar-driven works. Congleton teamed up with the group again on I Built You A Tower, released in 2026 by ANTI-. The album marked Death Cab for Cutie’s return to an independent label after two decades with Atlantic, reaffirming Ben Gibbard’s melancholic and introspective songwriting at a stage of full emotional and sonic maturity.
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