Kintsugi

It's been more than three years since Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard's divorce from actress Zooey Deschanel. But any doubts as to whether the split is still weighing on his mind are dispelled quickly on Kintsugi. The chorus of album opener “No Room in Frame” finds Gibbard asking, rhetorically, “Was I in your way when the cameras turned to face you?” Burn! And that is just the first of many unambiguous swipes at his famous, former spouse and her home city of Los Angeles. Kintsugi is equally notable as the first Death Cab album not to be produced by now-former guitarist Chris Walla, who recorded with the band for the album but has since departed. But rather than sound rudderless without Walla in the producer's chair, the band takes subtle, but concerted, strides toward a fresh sound. Death Cab has never not been a pop band, but Kintsugi is arguably the band's poppiest effort to date. Not even Gibbard's sardonic musings can overcome the unabashedly upbeat handclaps and bubbly synths on “Good Help (Is So Hard to Find).” Looking back lyrically, while moving forward musically, Kintsugi is the fitting first chapter of the leaner, meaner Death Cab for Cutie.