Earlier this fall, Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard provided a few teasers about the forthcoming follow-up to 2008’s Narrow Stairs, telling Spin: “It’s not a guitar-based record. We’ve been into vintage keyboards and playing with that palette. We’re not adding guitars because people will be expecting them.” According to bassist Nick Harmer, however, we can still expect a few six-strings (also, “string sections”) on the LP due out next spring. Speaking to Stereogum, Harmer revealed the title of their seventh album, Codes And Keys, the famous engineer they’ve enlisted for mixing, and clarified Gibbard’s point a bit:
Oh, there are definitely guitars on this record, there are just less of them than before and we’re using them in different ways this time. Ben was really inspired by writing on acoustic guitar and on a piano, so often those parts become voices or keyboard lines, rather than guitar parts.
Perhaps the most exciting revelation from the progress report is that Death Cab have handed the record over to the great Alan Moulder for mixing. With Moulder — who has worked on some of Harmer’s (and my) “favorite albums of all-time” — on board, it’s safe to say this LP will at least be sonically incredible. Add that new Gibbard song we heard to the mix and I, for one, am pretty excited to hear this thing. Check out the full article here.