4/5 stars

It’s been four years since Death Cab For Cutie’s last record; 18 since they launched themselves upon an extensive musical trajectory with no apparent use-by date. Cut to a little later in life, and Kintsugi is the ninth in line of their auditory endeavours, birthed around the departure of Chris Walla, the band’s guitarist and producer of 17 years.

Over multiple stages in their career, Death Cab For Cutie have penned a repertoire of melancholy, minimal arrangements, earning themselves a reputation for bleakness. Here it appears merely in a new incarnation – the production is warmer, offering up a plate of surprising hooks driven by churning bass riffs and swerving synths. Inevitably, the lyricism for the most part broadly broaches tales of love and disillusionment, topics that leading man Ben Gibbard has never quite shaken.

However, it’s not merely same old Death Cab. Fastened with gems like ‘No Room In Frame’, ‘Black Sun’ and ‘The Ghosts Of Beverly Drive’, Kintsugi signals a departure from the emotive yet detached alternative rock touchstones that plagued the band’s previous efforts.

The Japanese word ‘kintsugi’ refers to the art of fixing broken pieces with gold. Similarly, the loss of a band member hasn’t inspired an album of conclusion, but one of confident continuation.

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