Content warning: su*cide

Indie music is the genre for those of you who wear your hearts on your sleeves: it’s a style defined by emotional outbursts and poignant lyrical motifs, and Death Cab for Cutie’s discography is nothing if not personal. After 2022’s ‘Asphalt Meadows’ was praised as a relative comeback for the group, new album ‘I Built You A Tower’ continues in much the same direction. It’s for its vulnerability, its heart, that the project continues to captivate us.

Even if their breakout records ‘Transatlanticism’ and ‘Plans’ are two decades old at this point, Death Cab for Cutie are yet to start pulling their punches: ‘I Built You A Tower’ may seem unassuming for the most part, but these eleven tracks have no issue diving into a host of upsetting, introspective topics. Frontman Ben Gibbard’s divorce hangs over the entire record, clearly informing the solemn refrains of ‘Full of Stars’ and the quiet desperation that runs through ‘Trap Door’— he even alludes to su*cide on ‘Pep Talk,’ irrevocably shifting the album’s tone moving forward. Peering beneath its endearing indie rock musicianship, this is a hauntingly dark listen that places Gibbard’s inner monologue, and his own shortcomings, before anything else. If you’re listening to ‘I Built You A Tower’ for any reason, make it to uncover the deep rooted anguish buried deep within these arrangements: the dreams of escapism detailed on ‘Envy the Birds’ and the obsessive patterns circling around the title track can be clichéd, but their tug on the heartstrings is impossible to ignore.

The album acts like a whistle-stop tour through Gibbard’s conflicts, bouncing freely across a multitude of thoughts and issues at the forefront of his mind— each tangent we go down is gripping, but it must be said that in the end, these songs don’t end up complimenting each other all too well. It almost feels like the record is missing one final statement piece to tie its various loose ends together, a role comically dark closer ‘I Built You A Tower (b)’ doesn’t really accomplish: if anything, the cut highlights just how jumbled much of this tracklist can feel, racing as it does between easygoing acoustic arrangements and blaring rock numbers. Even then, though Death Cab for Cutie pull off those more aggressive moments with a grim determination that’s really quite commendable. ‘Punching the Flowers’ and ‘How Heavenly A State’ both bring some fairly ugly textures to the table, filling themselves with brittle distortion and energetic rhythms, yet neither one feels all-too out of place as part of this (generally) serene collection of tunes.

Gibbard and company aren’t necessarily pushing themselves too far outside their comfort zone with this one, but what they’ve done instead is put together a reliable collection of songs that, almost without exception, are really quite beautiful. The vocal writing all across the record may be understated, but the repeated refrains of ‘Full of Stars’ and ‘I Built You A Tower (a)’ are no less memorable for it— single ‘Riptides’ is incredibly simple, but its mixture of impassioned vocals, purposeful bass lines and cheery synths makes for an endearing assembly. Oftentimes, it’s actually the softest moments of ‘I Built You A Tower’ (rather than its grander rock climaxes) that stick with you, flaunting a wonderful understanding of melody and tone at every turn. The piano accompaniments on ‘Trap Door’ are strikingly beautiful, as is the wide-open soundscape of ‘Envy the Birds.’ Plain as they may be, many of these songs are evocative, to say the least.

Death Cab for Cutie’s latest record is certainly unassuming, and you could be forgiven for brushing past its gentle tones entirely— it’s only when we peer a little deeper that its dark underbelly begins to reveal itself. ‘I Built You A Tower’ is full of haunting meditations on lost love, grief and mental health issues, wrapped up in the sound of a band extremely comfortable doing what they do. As we said before, it’s for its emotion that the album deserves a relisten.