2xLP BLACK VINYL

Death Cab for Cutie's eighth full-length album, 2015's Kintsugi, finds the group sliding further into the studio smoothness that marked 2011's Codes and Keys. Produced by Rich Costey -- best-known for his work with Kimbra, Mew, Muse, Interpol, and Chvrches -- Kintsugi is also the last album Death Cab recorded with co-founding member Chris Walla, who announced he was leaving the band during the recording process. Sentiment has always been lead singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard's calling card, but as he starts to stare down the corridor to 40, he seems comfortable with leaving that open heart unadorned -- or, better still, gussied up in a coat of studio shellac. Although there are fragile solo numbers dotted throughout the album, most of Kintsugi shimmers upon a gloss constructed out of new wave remnants and faded memories of yacht rock. Conceivably, Gibbard's intent hews toward the latter -- such clean disco-rock diversions as "Good Help (Is So Hard to Find)" and the galloping collegiate rock echoes of "El Dorado" show a yen for art -- but his open heart nudges Kintsugi toward new millennial soft rock. This is a feature, not a bug. Gibbard has a gentle touch so having cushy, sugary melodies mirrored by a production equally as supple feels like a marriage of intent and sound.

A1        No Room In Frame
A2        Black Sun
A3        The Ghosts Of Beverly Drive
B4        Little Wanderer
B5        You've Haunted Me All My Life
B6        Hold No Guns
B7        Everything's A Ceiling
C8        Good Help (Is So Hard To Find)
C9        El Dorado
C10        Ingenue
C11        Binary Sea