Death Cab for Cutie have shared their first new song since founding guitarist and producer Chris Walla left the group in 2014. Watch the music video for "Gold Rush" above.
The upbeat track — which is also the first single released from the band's forthcoming album Thank You for Today — features Ben Gibbard's signature vocals over strong beats, with atmospheric piano, guitar, and smooth backing vocals. This is the first studio recording with new band members Dave Depper and Zac Rae who replaced Walla as touring members of the group in 2015.
Directed by Alex Southam, the video shows Gibbard walking down a street in Seattle. As he strolls along, the people around him change their styles, beginning from the '50s and evolving through the decades to current times. Ben talked about how the song relates with his personal experience of the city in an interview with NPR:
As I've gotten older, I've become acutely aware of how I connect my memories to my geography and [how] the landscape of the city changes. I'll walk down Broadway and walk past a location that used to be a bar I'd frequent with friends, or somewhere where I had a beautifully intense conversation with somebody that I once loved very much. The song is not a complaint about how things were better or anything like that. It's an observation, but more about coming to terms with the passage of time and losing the people and the moments in my life all over again as I walk down a street that is now so unfamiliar.
Death Cab for Cutie shared a comment about the upcoming album on their Facebook page, saying, "In the end, we emerged with an album that we dearly love and stand proudly behind. It was important for us to create something that served as a touchstone to our past while simultaneously looked to future of all the places we can and will go. It is one of our most diverse records, and it is full of heart."
Thank You for Today is scheduled for release on August 17, 2018. Pick it up on Amazon.
The band will be performing a number of headlining North American dates and festivals later this year. For concert tickets and more, check out the Death Cab for Cutie Zumic artist page.
