Asphalt Meadows

Death Cab’s mix of youthful fragility and deep, romantic yearning is one of the hallmarks of modern rock. Even at their most melodramatic, they maintain composure in ways their emo ancestors didn’t, and their 10th album in a now-25-year career is no exception. But like the imagery behind its title, *Asphalt Meadows* is a rougher sound than the sometimes porcelain smoothness of their 2010s albums, mining similar tender—brisk New Wave (“I Miss Strangers,” “Asphalt Meadows”), gentle Americana (“Rand McNally”), and big, atmospheric ballads (“I’ll Never Give Up On You”). As always, Ben Gibbard reaches to make specifics feel universal (“We lived on whiskey and Twizzlers”) and universals (“These days I miss strangers more than I miss my friends”) feel like he somehow wrote them just for you.

New 11-track album 'Asphalt Meadows' out now.

At last, the band’s 10th album restores their creative momentum. If the songs don’t feel as lived-in, at least they unlock the repressed memory of what it was like to be deeply moved by Death Cab for Cutie.

Death Cab For Cutie hone in on their status as purveyors of emotionally charged indie while adding flourishes to keep the beating heart of it all alive on Asphalt Meadows

10 albums and 25 years into their career, the Washington indie veterans return mature and assured but loaded with that early melodic magic

The Seattle band's 10th record borrows from the whole gamut of their oeuvre.

A record that finds its voice in emerging into musical freedoms found in separation.

The Washington quintet’s tenth album is a reflective collation of calmness and chaos in an ever-changing world.

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Death Cab for Cutie’s 10th studio album Asphalt Meadows represents a return to the band’s classic sound, most strongly resembling 2000’s We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes and 2011’s Codes and Keys.

Death Cab for Cutie show their place in the indie rock pantheon on 'Asphalt Meadows' while also producing music deserving of consideration with some of their best early work.

Asphalt Meadows by Death Cab For Cutie album review by Greg Walker. The band's full-length is now available via Atlantic Records

Album Reviews: Death Cab For Cutie - Asphalt Meadows

Death Cab for Cutie - Asphalt Meadows review: Time passed and that was that

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