Kintsugi (Death Cab for Cutie) Album Review

After their longest album-to-album break that included the departure of guitarist and all around super member Chris Walla, Death Cab for Cutie released their eighth album Kintsugi. The album’s namesake is a Japanese artform that focuses on repairing broken pottery using a gold-infused finish. The purpose behind its use is to emphasize the damage-repair cycle in all aspects of life. Rather than discard the broken pieces, kintsugi-style art puts them back together with gold to highlight the fact that the pottery is not perfect and has broken in the past, and is yet still useful and beautiful.



It’s really a perfect album title for a band that relies so heavily on the damage-repair process themselves. Even casual listeners know that the majority of DCFC’s work comes from past relationships and all of the associated feelings that come with their endings. It’s also common knowledge that struggles like unrequited love, substance abuse, and rough upbringings tend to bring out an artist’s most powerful and usually best works. That’s certainly been the case for previous DCFC albums and individual tracks (i.e. it’s no surprise that “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” is their most popular song).

On Kintsugi the band takes a much different perspective on love, one that’s alien to previous albums like Plans. Without adopting the role of stalker too intimately, a cursory glance at Ben Gibbard’s relationship status suggests there may be a very obvious reason for the change in tone. It’s been four years since Gibbard’s very public divorce and he’s now in a (seemingly) happy relationship. And so, while past albums focus primarily on the area of heartbreak and failed relationships, Kintsugi is much more optimistic and emotionally healthy. Relating the tone back to kintsugi art, Gibbard’s lyrics on this album are much more focused on the entire piece of repaired pottery (a current relationship), rather than dwelling on the broken pieces themselves (past relationships).

It’s an unfortunate fact that artists in improved mental states, either from beating addiction or moving on from lost love, often produce lesser quality art. The most iconic and lauded albums tend to serve as an outlet for the struggling artist’s pent up emotions. That’s the case for Kintsugi which overall cannot compare favorably to DCFC’s better albums- ones written from a place of heartbreak and despondency. It should also be mentioned that on top of the change in lyrical material comes a change in the band’s choice of producer. Chris Walla served as the band’s producer on all previous albums but the group decided to pass the reigns onto a conventional, well-known producer in Rich Costey.

There are absolutely excellent tracks on the album that deserve airplay, but the album in its entirety lacks the sense of cohesion and consistent quality that defined Transatlanticism and Plans. Things don’t appear so dire or disappointing from the start with the single “No Room In Frame”. This is one of the few songs on Kintsugi that harks back to the days of Gibbard’s tragic and intimate storytelling. Whether it’s to avoid rehashing past stories that made tabloid covers or something else, “No Room In Frame” is unique on the album in how it seems to address Gibbard’s messy divorce. Even with lyrics like “Was I in your way / When the cameras turned to face you? / No room in frame / For two” the song has a much more positive feel that suggests Gibbard holds no grudges.

The overall quality of DCFC releases has undoubtedly decreased over the years, but the newer albums are also producing better “blast it!” singles. The types of songs that compel you to roll down the windows and turn up the volume while bobbing along to their rhythms. On Codes and Keys that track was “You Are a Tourist” with the “blast it!” moment coming during the closest thing you’ll find to a breakdown in DCFC’s repertoire.



The most “blast it!” moment on Kintsugi happens around the 3 minute mark on the very next track, “Black Sun”. This also happens to be my personal favorite on the album and thankfully comes complete with a music video more befitting of the song’s badass nature, compared to the confetti in “You Are a Tourist”. DCFC has rarely failed to pack a solid 1-2 opening punch on their albums and there’s no change in that approach on Kintsugi.



We’re even treated to a rare 1-2-3 combo courtesy of “The Ghosts of Beverly Drive”, another track that has vintage DCFC lyrical quality and pinpoint specificity. It’s only after these opening tracks that the album loses its way and falls victim to unfocused lyrics and meandering compositions. On songs such as “Little Wanderer” Gibbard just misses the mark for one reason or another (on that track in particular it’s a simplistic and lyrically weak chorus). While “Little Wanderer” is missing just one element of a great DCFC song, those elements become more and more sparse as the album progresses.

Some songs are halfhearted attempts to recreate past magic like the imitation of the classic “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” seen in “Hold No Guns”. For others including “Everything’s A Ceiling”, “El Dorado”, and “Binary Sea”, the problem is a lack of direction and sense of stagnation. Death Cab for Cutie has been defined by its ability to express denouement and climaxing emotions. But on this record too many songs fail to provoke any real feelings and instead sit idly by.

It’s a problem common this late in a band’s career- to simultaneously maintain what made them great while also pursuing new avenues of songwriting success. Thankfully Kintsugi does still contain new classics for the extensive and ever-growing Death Cab for Cutie discography. But those are individual snapshots whereas the band’s better records were a collective experience.

6.5/10