This article originally appeared on richmond.com.
One of the world’s most recognizable and consistent alternative bands is making a stop in Richmond on its current tour.
Death Cab for Cutie will perform at Virginia Credit Union Live! at Richmond Raceway at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, with support from Thao, as part of the North American leg of its “Asphalt Meadows” tour.
The tour is in support of the band’s 10th and latest album, “Asphalt Meadows,” released in September. It’s the quintet’s first project during a pandemic and the first time they all had to write separately, to an extent. But bassist Nick Harmer said these obstacles only strengthened the group’s bond.
“It took us a little bit to figure it out,” he said. “But once we got started on the process of writing remotely and trying to make music remotely, we kind of figured out our routine around it. I think we got really comfortable writing that way, and it became a real positive, creative thing for us to do.”
Harmer said the pandemic was undoubtedly not an ideal situation for anyone, including musicians trying to continue their craft, since not being able to gather together in the same room and play for the first time poses some obvious barriers, but the forced separation allowed them to pursue new avenues they might not have before.
“It definitely forced us to find new ways to create together,” Harmer said. “I think we learned to kind of trust each other more and give each other a little bit more space to try new things and explore different ideas.”
The end product was an 11-track album that dropped four years after “Thank You for Today,” which is the longest span of time the band has gone between releasing LPs (“The Blue EP,” however, came out in September 2019). That extended period, Harmer said, gave the group’s members more time to let their innovation run wild.
Even though they found some good within the pandemic, they missed performing live. The band started a “Live From Home” series during the pandemic to keep playing together in some capacity — even releasing a free livestream concert from frontman Ben Gibbard’s house a week before “Asphalt Meadows” dropped to celebrate the new album — but it doesn’t feel the same as an in-person crowd screaming the lyrics back.
Harmer said he enjoys playing everything from deep cuts like “Summer Skin” to “I Will Possess Your Heart” live. With the latter, the band doesn’t necessarily follow the arrangement that appears on 2008’s “Narrow Stairs,” allowing guitarist Dave Depper to take on some prolonged solos and make the song improvisational so there’s a different live product every time. He also has fun playing the hits, such as “Soul Meets Body,” and watching the crowd light up every time.
He hopes, however, that fans welcome the new material with open arms and love it as much as the band does.
“What I hope more than anything is that the crowds are able to embrace the new material that we’re playing and see how it all fits into the bigger picture of our catalog of work,” Harmer said.
Bre Callahan 