Death Cab for Cutie, Shepherds Bush Empire

With a new lineup and a new album slated for the spring, Ben Gibbard and his enduring, acclaimed Death Cab for Cutie are back London for two dates in June, as they come up on two decades in the business.
Kitsugi will showcase their first new recordings for four years, during which time they've put out a vinyl-only live album in support of Record Store Day, and a 10^th Anniversary re-release of Transatlanticism, the album that launched the group into mainstream commercial success. It will also be their first record without band mainstay Chris Walla, for years Ben Gibbard's creative equal and writer of some of the bands most famous cuts.
It's always been difficult to know where to place Death Cab. Their keening, heart-on-a-plate honesty (as in I Will Follow You into the Dark) makes plenty of people call them an emo group, but they've none of the punk roots that suggests, while to call them a rock band, even an alt-rock band, doesn't really come close to the vox-and-drum-machine style that forms their most recognisable sound.
Whatever you want to call it, Gibbard's voice is the timeless constant, and its no coincidence that the only band in the world that sound anything like DCFC are The Postal Service, Gibbard's two-piece with producer Jimmy Tamborello, who put that distinctive voice over restrained synths and shuffling electronica to beautiful effect (2003's Give Up is as good as anything in Death Cab's collection). There are plenty of reasons why people still flock to Death Cab shows – their schedule reads like one of a band who can barely keep up with demand the world over – and if you're even half a fan, you shouldn't miss the opportunity to catch them at the start of a new creative era.