Death Cab for Cutie: A New Era with I Built You a Tower

Three years ago, indie rockers Death Cab for Cutie embarked on a tour to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of their fourth album, Transatlanticism. On that trek, they discovered the less-is-more ethos that would inform their latest album, I Built You a Tower.

“With any artist, you dip into different recording means,” says singer-guitarist Jason McGerr via phone from his Bellingham, WA home. Death Cab for Cutie performs at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 15, at Jacobs Pavilion. “You throw a lot of paint at the wall in the course of a career. I Built You a Tower is record No. 11 for us. I think it sounds closer to the first four records than it does the middle period of our career. I think that was partially informed by playing Transatlanticism from start to finish on tour in front of people, which we hadn’t done until then.”

The group usually included Transatlanticism tracks such as “The New Year” and “Soul Meets Body” in its sets, but playing the record was transformational.

“Feeling the arc of the writing and the journey and the approach was something we needed to do again,” says McGerr. “We all felt that way. At the time, Transatlanticism and [2005’s] Plans were both four-piece records with [guitarist] Chris Walla in the band and not five-piece records like we are now with [guitarist] Dave Depper in the band. It took some restraint for five people to play less. At some point, [keyboardist] Zac [Rae] said he considered I Built You a Tower to be a trio record with bass, drums, guitars and vocals.”

Songs such as the tender opener “Full of Stars,” a song with soft vocals and plaintive vocals, and the mid-tempo title track allude to singer-guitarist Ben Gibbard’s recent divorce.

“Ben [Gibbard] has talked about it in the press and said that we all go through stuff that is sometimes difficult,” McGerr says. “We don’t necessarily walk into the room and share it. We tend to put it in a place that is out of reach sometimes from ourselves. Over a period of time, the tower collapses, and the things come flooding forward. Thematically, there are moments on the record that feel very pastoral and pristine and like there is nothing wrong and moments when there is a breach in the dam, and the tower walls have crumbled.”

With its jagged guitars, “Punching the Flowers” represents the group’s more aggressive side and hearkens back to its early days.

“I think Ben was walking down the street and a mother and a child were there, and the kid was having a hard time,” says McGerr when asked about the song. “Someone had a nice garden, and this kid was literally punching the flowers. The dichotomy of a beautiful young child punching something like that seemed odd and off. Ben used it as a metaphor for what he was going through. It’s hard for me to talk about the lyrics. I didn’t write them, of course. Musically, we wanted to have a fairly aggressive but sparse approach to that concept.”

John Congleton (St. Vincent, Angel Olson) produced and engineered the album, which was assembled from three weeks of sessions. While the gestation period for the songs was lengthy, the recording process was not.

“We spent about two years working on the record doing pre-production,” says McGerr. “We would write in our home studios and send ideas back and forth. Each week, a different member would have the track and rearrange it and turn it on its head. There are some parts of the record that came from our home studios.”

Depper, for example, created the guitar distortion in “How Heavenly a State,” at his home.

“The technology is so great, you can make a whole record at home,” says McGerr. “The stuff we needed to capture live we did with John [Congelton] at his studio. If the pieces had enough resonance and character, they went on the record. I would have to look at a list. We all have the capabilities. We all knew what we wanted to play. We just cooked and let the producer capture what was happening in the room.”

McGerr has been in the band for more than 20 years now; he says he had some sense that joining the group was going to be a major commitment, and it’s been a fulfilling ride.

“I did know it was important,” says McGerr. “I’ve said this in interviews in the past. In 2002, when I first sat and played with the band, I knew it was now or never. I could have taken two paths in my drummer career. I could have taken a technical path as a jazz guy or who I am today, which is a tasteful and supportive and always-playing-for-the-songs drummer. I would rather be that. Those are the types of musicians that I have gravitated to.”