Are you ready for… Death Cab For Cutie’s 5th best album? Rather than the typical response that their new record — I Built You A Tower — was their best or best since (insert highly praised past release), when DCFC’s Ben Gibbard was asked to rank their albums, he put their latest in 5th place. Of course, this surprised, and I’m sure greatly displeased, their publicist.
So goes his explanation for that No. 5 slot. The only true fear that he has at this point in his career is delusion. He brings up one of his favorite bands, who shall remain nameless, as an example. He recalls reading a bio around the time of one of the band’s late-era releases, in which the frontman claimed it was the best album they’d ever made. If not that, then it was their best album since their critically acclaimed, beloved output that was now decades behind them. It was a maneuver that the redacted band in question tried to pull with every ensuing release. “This isn’t the follow-up from the smash hit record,” Gibbard says with a laugh, bringing it back to I Built You a Tower. “We’re self-aware.”
You’ve got to hand it to Gibbard for his honesty. It is worth noting, though, that the album got a 7.8 from Nina Corcoran at Pitchfork, which is notoriously tough.
