Death Cab for Cutie have launched a website with a unique way of unlocking access to the new song “Rand McNally.”
8x GRAMMY® Award-nominated rock band Death Cab for Cutie has unveiled new song, “Rand McNally,” available for exclusive, in-person listening anywhere the band has played throughout their storied 25-year career. Starting today and continuing throughout the month of September, fans can unlock the track using an official geotagged map here – featuring over 800 locations across the globe – from the site of their first ever show at The Pacer House in Bellingham, WA to their headline show at New York’s legendary Madison Square Garden, to venues as far from home as Tokyo’s Astro Hall, and even those that have since closed their doors such as NY’s Roseland Ballroom. Of the track itself, Gibbard shares: “‘Rand’ was written for everyone we toured with back in the day, for everyone who let us sleep on their floor, and for past bandmates. I felt after all these years that they deserved their own folk song. But also a promise to keep going and keep creating.” The song will be available across all DSP’s once the band’s highly-anticipated 10th studio album Asphalt Meadows arrives in full on Friday, September 16th. The LP has already earned advance critical acclaim, including from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Vulture, all of whom highlighted the album in their recent fall previews. The indie rock veterans have also announced plans for a special ‘Live From Home’ performance featuring all five band members, streaming live this Monday, September 12th at 2 pm PT / 5 pm ET from lead vocalist and guitarist Ben Gibbard’s Seattle-based studio. Fans will remember the space well as the backdrop of the beloved daily livestreams Gibbard first hosted in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those performances helped raise over $250K in donations and supplies for variousSeattle-area relief organizations and drew over 4.5 million total views, as well as high profile media attention from The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone,Newsweek, Variety, NPR, and Stereogum, the latter of which pondered, “Is Ben Gibbard going to single-handedly get us all through quarantine?” Next Monday’s performance and Q&A will feature stripped down versions of new songs, renditions of old favorites, and conversations about the forthcoming album. The livestream will benefit reproductive rights nonprofit, The Brigid Alliance (donate here). Of the upcoming performance, Gibbard shares: “I started Live From Home during the pandemic when I wanted nothing more than to play music with my bandmates. As we’re now back together, it feels only fitting to have everyone in that little room with me to bring it full circle.”