Death Cab for Cutie ended their run on Atlantic Records with 2022’s Asphalt Meadows, a strong return to form after a weaker run of releases through the 2010s that produced only a handful of memorable tracks but kept them on the radio. Now signed to Anti-, I Built You a Tower is their first independent release since their breakthrough, Transatlanticism.
Tower producer John Congleton helmed Asphalt Meadows, too, and it’s easy to imagine that he lit a collective fire under Death Cab for Cutie, given his resume, which includes career highlights for St. Vincent, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, and Cloud Nothings. Asphalt Meadows found them delivering a more energized, guitar-focused collection of songs, including “I Don’t Know How I Survive” and “Roman Candles”, and stretching out into the atmospheric, Explosions in the Sky-leaning “Foxglove in the Clear Cut”.
For the first time in over a decade, I was over the moon about a new Death Cab release. The songs with a familiar feel were anchored by some of Ben Gibbard’s strongest lyrics in ages, looking back on the days of sleeping on floors and acknowledging the ups and downs of middle age, and the tracks built on sonic stretches were among the highlights.
While Tower reteams the band with Congleton, it isn’t Return to Asphalt Meadows. This collection has a bittersweet, nostalgic sound that has more in common with the Barsuk releases that kicked off their rise, like The Photo Album, and, at times, serves as a retrospective of sounds the group has explored over the years. Fortunately, they seem to be keenly aware of the experiments that worked. It’s a strong collection of songs that proves the rebound wasn’t just a fluke.
Right out of the gate, the first four tracks deliver what is expected of a Death Cab for Cutie record. Opener “Full of Stars” is a gentle introduction to a piece with openers like The Photo Album’s “Steadier Footing” and “Title Track” from We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes. Next, “Punching the Flowers” has an urgent, angular riff that drives the verses toward a memorable chorus.
“Pep Talk” is one of those effortless pop gems the band makes look easy, and it sounds like a song that could land on a series, with its gentle persistence and themes of trying to face yet another day. The title track sounds like something right off We Have the Facts and We Are Voting Yes, with a gently building track with a moment of catharsis. “Riptides” hits the sweet spot.
There is a string of more subdued songs in the middle of I Built You a Tower that threatens to derail the momentum, but fortunately they sound distinct enough to keep things from flagging. “Stone Over Water” actually sounds a bit like Gibbard’s theme for the AppleTV hit Shrinking. “Trap Door” is a pretty, synth-forward track that hinges (no pun intended) on a line so Gibbard it’s shocking he hasn’t used before: “There’s a trap door in your heart”.
One of the musical outliers is “How Heavenly a State”, which opens with a driving riff, then melts into an atmospheric middle section before regaining momentum. “The Flavor of Metal” has that bittersweet nostalgia that Gibbard excels at, connecting ingrained childhood fears to the disappointments of adulthood. It’s one of the highlights.
The closing number is one of the most welcome surprises. “I Built You a Tower (b)” is a guitar-forward, propulsive track that comes out of nowhere after a mostly subdued second half. To say this was what I wanted from this record is an understatement. It’s the type of song that delivers that welcome rush of subverted expectations that drew me so fully into Asphalt Meadows from the opening track.
I’ve been on a life journey with Gibbard and Death Cab since the late 1990s. It sounds cliché, but this discography is the soundtrack of my life. Other than that break I took during the 2010s, this is a band that has meant a great deal to me for more than half my life. Their songs have provided comfort, helped me wrestle with disappointment and grief, offered solidarity, and continue to do so.
That said, it only seems right to share that as much as I love Death Cab for Cutie’s discography, most of the post-Transatlanticism releases required some time to reveal their power. After several intentional listens, I am happy to say I Built You a Tower is a very good Death Cab record. It delivers differently from their last release. I was hoping for more of the element of surprise that made Asphalt Meadows so refreshing, but I fully expect to be over the moon about this collection as I continue to listen to it, too.