Ben Gibbard and his Death Cab have teamed up with NPR to stream their seventh studio album in its entirety for free online. If you enjoyed the first two singles off the record “You Are a Tourist” and “Home is a Fire” head over to NPR’s music portal to taste all of what Codes and Keys has to offer. It releases later this month on May 31; it’s already up for preorder at iTunes.
The next single off Death Cab’s upcoming seventh studio album Codes and Keys is “Home is a Fire.” And with the release of it comes this voyeuristic music video directed by Shepard Fairey, the street artist most famous for these works of art. The video takes you on a journey through Los Angeles, and band bassist Nick Harmer–who helped conceptualize it–explains what it’s all about. “For me, ‘Home Is A Fire’ is about redefining familiar space,” Harmer said. “The narrator in the song seems unsettled, searching and yearning, scanning the environment for something comforting in an uncomfortable place. I knew that if the band would give me a chance to make a visual accompaniment to this song that those would be the themes and mood that I would most want to highlight and accentuate.”
Codes and Keys drops May 31.
The wait for Death Cab for Cutie’s first album in three years is almost over. Codes and Keys, their seventh studio album to date if you’re counting, will feature 11 new tracks from the indie-pop/alt-rock band and it releases May 31. Frontman and lead vocalist Ben Gibbard told Stereogum that “this a much less guitar-centric album than we’ve ever made before.” The band recently outed the lead single off the album and it’s called “You Are a Tourist.” Listen to it below and quickly you’ll notice the changes they’ve made. This still very much sounds like a DCFC track (Gibbard’s voice echos along with the upbeat tune), and at the same time its message is uplifting, too. Bassist Nick Harmer admits that “the emotional spectrum feels much wider this time…. I think there is a lot more light in this record.” Bet you’re really looking forward to contrasting Codes and Keys with their 2008 melancholic smash Narrow Stairs. For now, hear the single and anticipate the end-of-May release.