Death Cab For Cutie have today (March 16) announced details of a new album ‘I Built You A Tower’ with reflective single ‘Riptides’ – check it out below.
- READ MORE: Inside Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service’s anniversary tour: “It’s been more informative than nostalgic”
The band – consisting of Benjamin Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer, Jason McGerr, Dave Depper and Zac Rae – announced that their eleventh studio album. ‘I Built You A Tower’ will arrive on June 5 via ANTI. You can pre-order the album here.
The album will be their first release on an indie label after being on Atlantic for over 20 years. The move sees them returning to their independent roots, which date back to their 1997 formation and continued with their first four releases on Barsuk Records.
The new album was recorded over three weeks at Animal Rites in Los Angeles, as well as the band members’ homes in Seattle, Bellingham, Los Angeles and Portland.
The band shared the first song from the project, ‘Riptides’ today. Speaking about the single, the band’s Gibbard said: “‘Riptides’ is about the challenge of dealing with personal struggles as the world around us experiences tragedy and loss on an unfathomable scale.
“And how when these two elements intertwine themselves in our psyches, it feels utterly paralysing.”
You can listen to the single, and watch the song’s Jason Lester-directed video, here:
The band have also announced details of a UK and European tour this year, in addition to the North American one the band unveiled recently. The pre-sale for tickets begins on March 18 from 10am local time, while the general sale begins on March 20 from 10am.
Check out all the dates for the UK and European ones below and get tickets for these gigs here.
Death Cab for Cutie’s UK and European Tour Dates are:
SEPTEMBER 2026
16 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Olympia Theatre
19 – Manchester, UK – O2 Victoria Warehouse
20 – Edinburgh, UK – Corn Exchange
21 – Gateshead, UK – The Glasshouse
23 – Bristol, UK – The Prospect Building
25 – London, UK – Troy
29 – Utrecht, Netherlands – TivoliVredenburg
30 – Brussels, Belgium – Cirque Royal
OCTOBER 2026
1 – Berlin, Germany – Columbiahalle
3 – Paris, France – Elysée Montmartre
A statement about the new album explains that frontman Ben Gibbard “weathered the greatest pressure of his professional life” behind the scenes, “fronting both Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service on arena stages for hours a night while struggling with the collapse of his personal life in the background,” in reference to his marriage collapse.
The statement added: “The strain felt too much for one person to bear, and the ‘tower’ originated as a way to protect himself.”
Gibbard added: “There’s this need to find a place in ourselves to put loss and grief. A place that can hold it so we can move on with our lives. But there are these moments where the trauma breaks out of that shell we created for it.”
The album is described as a way of “reconciling with past selves in order to locate a new future.”
The bands Depper added: “The anniversary tours exorcised any nostalgia in our systems. We felt part of this powerful force greater than all of us and went into the studio with a sense of, how can we capture that feeling and put it into something new?”
While Harmer said: “The whole experience of this record got us back to the earliest versions of this band: If the musicians in the room like what we’re working on, that’s enough. We reconnected with the confidence that comes with that.”
The album came together for the band in just three weeks, Gibbard says. “We weren’t afraid of a deeply human sound, some messiness…This isn’t an airbrushed photograph. This is what we look like, this is what we sound like.
“…You don’t always have to look at what’s inside it, but it’s a reminder that it happened. You know it’s there. You have to face it.”
The new album follows on from the band embarking on a series of dates to mark the 20th anniversary of their 2005 album ‘Plans’ last year. The record marked Death Cab For Cutie’s major label debut, went platinum and also earned the band their first Grammy nominations.
Earlier this year, the band’s Gibbard covered some of Morrissey’s songs when taking to the stage with a Smiths tribute band.
The event took place as part of the 2026 edition of San Francisco comedy festival, SF Sketch Fest, which saw the ‘90s MTV comedy group The State hold multiple live performances to celebrate their Wet Hot American Summer cult film turning 25 this year.
