Death Cab for Cutie's "I Built You a Tower" Explores Three Tiers of Grief Through Ben Gibbard's Personal Losses
By
Nina Corcoran
Toasted golden, schmeared with insight. Top of the rack.
Summary
Ben Gibbard and Death Cab for Cutie return after four years with "I Built You a Tower," an album that channels three distinct tiers of grief Gibbard has experienced: the self-induced pain of watching his sports team lose, the tragic dissolution of a marriage, and the unspeakable loss of loved ones. The review highlights how sorrow has always been a creative wellspring for Gibbard, and this album continues that tradition with deeply personal songwriting.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThere's different tiers of grief: the self-induced (watching your home team's first-ever World Series appearance slip through their mitts by one game), the tragic (a marriage dissolving despite weathering a claustrophobic pandemic), and the unspeakable (the deaths of loved ones, taken in a flash or drawn out over years).
In recent years, Ben Gibbard, one of indie rock's prevailing figureheads, has unwittingly endured all three.
Sorrow has always been a songwriting wellspring for Gibbard, who built his b
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