Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard Gets Personal on New Album

2015-04-07

Story by Anne Erickson

Ben Gibbard says some songs off Death Cab for Cutie’s new album were written about his ex-wife

Musicians often draw from personal experiences when penning new songs. Such is the case with Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard. While Gibbard won’t explicitly state which songs off the band’s latest studio album, “Kintsugi,” are about his ex-wife, actress and singer Zooey Deschanel, he explained to Billboard that he thinks it’s pretty apparent which tracks off the album are about Deschanel.

“I’m not going to change the way I’ve always written for fear of people correctly or incorrectly assigning a name and face to these songs,” Gibbard said. “I’ve always written about my life and the lives of people around me, and how everything intersects.”

He added, “People turn to us because they don’t want to feel alone in their melancholic moments. And I’m happy to provide that soundtrack.”

One song off “Kintsugi” that isn’t about Deschanel is “Good Help (Is So Hard to Find).” In that tune, Gibbard blows off some steam about the Los Angeles celebrity types.

“The person I’m singing to is an amalgamation of people I came across living in Los Angeles,” Gibbard explained. “Being around people in entertainment who are fairly well-known, I noticed all these neuroses and psychoses.”

Death Cab for Cutie’s “Kintsugi” is available now.




Anne Erickson
Posted by Anne Erickson | Alternative, Music, Rock News

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