Death Cab for Cutie knew immediately that Kintsugi would fit perfectly as the title of their eighth studio album. “Considering what we were going through internally, and with what a lot of the lyrics are about, it had a great deal of resonance for us -- the idea of figuring out how to repair breaks and make them a thing of beauty,†says bassist Nick Harmer.
Kintsugi is the band’s first time recording with a producer other than their own Chris Walla. For Kintsugi, they worked with Rich Costey (whose production credits include albums by Franz Ferdinand, Muse and Interpol), recording at his Los Angeles studio Eldorado over the course of twelve weeks in the first half of 2014. “He was all in in a way that I don’t think a lot of producers are nowadays,†says Gibbard. “We couldn’t have landed on a better collaborator for this record. He accomplished what we’ve always attempted, which is to make Death Cab sound on a record how we sound live.â€