Photo by Dianna Walla

Chris Walla, formerly of Death Cab for Cutie, has announced a new solo record. It's called Tape Loops, and it's out October 16 through his label Trans Records. Check out the cover below. It's his first solo record since 2008's Field Manual, and is largely built around the manipulation of analog tape. It's all instrumental; there's no vocals. You can listen to the first track, "Kanta's Theme", above via Interview.

"I can't change a closed, physical tape loop with a mouse-click or a keystroke, and that’s precisely the point," Walla said in a press release. "Digital recording and editing often feels like working in a spreadsheet—it's not always a place for dreams."

Walla announced he was leaving Death Cab last year, after 17 years with the band. His final performance with them was last September.

Speaking with Tegan and Sara's Sara Quin in Interview, Walla elaborated a little more on his reasons for leaving the band. "On a more existential level, and eventually one of the things that led to me wanting to leave the band, was feeling like Ben [Gibbard]'s stories weren't coinciding with my own life in a way that I could continue to prioritize my whole living experience for," he said.

On his current relationship with the band, he said: "Those guys, they are my brothers. We haven't spoken a lot, but it doesn't change the fact that I love them dearly and I hope it all continues to go well. I hope that those relationships can be new again someday, and strong again, in a way that is probably very different from how they were, but not fraught. "

Tape Loops:

01 Kanta's Theme

02 Introductions

03 I Believe in the Night

04 Goodbye

05 Flytoget