Indie rock titans Death Cab For Cutie have shared the official video for ‘Stone Over Water’, the latest single from their eleventh studio album, I Built You A Tower, as the band embark on their European and UK tour.
Death Cab For Cutie @ Scala
The video arrives as the eight-time GRAMMY®-nominated band begin a run of dates that sees them return to the UK and Europe for the first time in support of their new album, with the tour opening in Dublin before travelling through Manchester, Edinburgh, Gateshead, Bristol, London and Bexhill.
The current lineup of Death Cab fFor Cutie features Benjamin Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer, Jason McGerr, Dave Depper and Zac Rae, and the new release continues a significant new chapter for the band as they return to their independent roots following two decades with Atlantic Records.
Stone Over Water addresses the emotional experience of trying to convince both yourself and everyone around you that everything is fine when it is anything but. Despite the weight of its subject matter, the accompanying video takes a deliberately lighter approach. Created and directed by musician and animator Sean Solomon, the visual follows a small cartoon character struggling through a difficult day, using physical comedy and visual gags to offset the song’s melancholy. Solomon’s animation draws inspiration from cartoonists known for their use of visual humour, employing a deliberately slapstick style that creates a striking contrast with the emotional weight of Stone Over Water.
The result is a video that finds humour in the everyday frustrations and difficulties of life without undermining the song’s central message. The character’s increasingly chaotic experiences ultimately reinforce the idea that everyone is dealing with their own struggles, and that helping someone else can sometimes provide a way out of our own heads.
The song is taken from I Built You A Tower, which marks a significant change in direction for Death Cab For Cutie after 20 years on a major label. Released through ANTI-Records, the album sees the band reconnect with the independence and directness of their earlier work while drawing on more than two decades of experience as one of America’s most enduring indie rock groups. Produced and engineered by John Congleton, the new LP was recorded at Animal Rites in Los Angeles as well as in the homes of band members across Seattle, Bellingham, Los Angeles and Portland.
The album also features Riptides, which became the band’s ninth number one at Adult Alternative radio, adding another milestone to a career that has already seen them build an extensive catalogue of influential and commercially successful releases.
The creation of I Built You A Tower is closely connected to the band’s recent anniversary tours. Death Cab For Cutie spent the past few years revisiting two of their most celebrated albums, Transatlanticism and Plans, with extensive tours marking their respective 20th anniversaries. Those performances provided an opportunity for the band to reconnect with songs spanning their career while rediscovering the chemistry between the five members. That experience ultimately fed into the writing and recording of I Built You A Tower, resulting in a leaner and more immediate collection of songs.
Rather than simply revisiting the past, the new album uses that renewed connection as a foundation for moving forward. Stone Over Water demonstrates the balance at the heart of the record: emotionally direct songwriting paired with an arrangement that allows the band’s melodic instincts to remain front and centre. The new video adds another layer to that approach. Where the song explores the difficulty of maintaining an outward appearance of being okay, Solomon’s animation finds an unexpectedly playful visual language for the same emotions.
Death Cab For Cutie @ Scala
The European and UK tour now gives audiences the opportunity to hear I Built You A Tower alongside the band’s extensive back catalogue, with Pool Kids joining the band throughout the run. Following the opening two nights in Dublin, the tour continues through Manchester, Edinburgh, Gateshead and Bristol before arriving in London for two nights at Troxy. The UK dates conclude with a performance at Bexhill’s De La Warr Pavilion, before the band continue into mainland Europe for shows in Utrecht, Brussels and Berlin.
For Death Cab For Cutie, the tour represents another step in a period of renewed activity, bringing together the band’s past and present while introducing audiences to the latest chapter in their catalogue.
Upoming UK & Ireland Live Dates:
SEPTEMBER
16th – Dublin, 3Olympia Theatre
17th – Dublin, 3Olympia Theatre
19th – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse
20th – Edinburgh, Corn Exchange
21st – Gateshead, The Glasshouse
23rd – Bristol, The Prospect Building
25th – London, Troxy
26th – London, Troxy
27th – Bexhill, De La Warr Pavilion
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