Death Cab for Cutie: "There's been really easy times, and there have been really hard times. It's like a relationship that you would have with family, at this point"

There is something strangely circular happening around Death Cab For Cutie right now. 30 years after forming, the Washington band are returning to Dublin for the European leg of their tour, on September 16 and 17 – at the same time that, across social media, millennial nostalgia has become increasingly difficult to ignore.

The music, fashion, films, and aesthetics of the late 1990s and early 2000s are clearly back in style, but the fascination goes deeper than a renewed appreciation for low-rise jeans or old playlists. There is a growing yearning for the simplicity of a pre-smartphone world and for the optimism, sincerity and sense of possibility that accompanied it. Death Cab for Cutie are perfectly placed within that revival.

For a generation, albums like Transatlanticism and Plans soundtracked a time of discovering music through friends, music blogs or The O.C., rather than an algorithm deciding what should come next. Now, with music and listeners becoming more and more separated, Death Cab are making songs that value connection and authenticity.

At the centre of that is I Built You A Tower, an album that deliberately embraces simplicity. Rather than adding layers to an established sound, the band wanted to strip things back and rediscover the chemistry between them.

For bassist Nick Harmer, much of that instinct begins with frontman and principal songwriter Ben Gibbard.

“A lot of it always comes back to what Ben is emotionally processing and going through,” says Harmer. “There were a lot of things that he was writing through and trying to navigate through that. The music then supported a little more of that aggressiveness, and a more rock-like tone.

“We had a lot of discussions going into the making of this record," he continues. "We were talking about how, in the studio in the past, we got a little bit lost in the woods at times, with overdubs and random pieces of sonic textures. We really wanted to try and maintain a simplicity to this. It was like, 'Whenever possible, let's keep it as five people playing in a room – what does that sound and feel like?'”

It's a creative decision that makes sense for a band that has spent three decades touring, producing and perfecting their craft. Their back-to-basics approach also nods back to an era when albums could still feel like personal discoveries, and when a song could become associated with a particular period of your life – without being immediately accompanied by a stream of online commentary.

“I do miss times when social media, and the constant surveillance that comes with the smartphones that are all in our pockets, weren't so prevalent," Nick says of those days. "You'd see people's faces, and they would be interacting with it in real time, and not trying to capture it on a camera.

“I want to connect with the world, through people, through an experience, through something that feels authentic and organic," he adds. "Where there's not this barrier between me and whatever the thing is that I'm doing – whether that's a conversation I'm having, or that's dating, or being at an art museum, or being at a live show, or just sitting in a movie theatre and watching a movie from start to finish, without my phone distracting me.”

That philosophy is reflected in the music itself. One of the songs Harmer has particularly connected with is 'Stable Song', whose spacious arrangement gives the musicians room to breathe.

“That has been such a fun song to play," he says. "I've just really connected to how much space is in that song, and how the song sort of hangs in the air live. Again, reminding me of the 'less is more' lesson that I seem to be relearning over and over again.”

It is a lesson that Death Cab have had plenty of time to learn. Few bands survive for 30 years without going through periods of intense change. Death Cab have moved from their independent beginnings to major-label success and back towards a more independent environment, while navigating changing line-ups and the pressures of maintaining a creative partnership over several decades.

“Oh, it's so dynamic," Nick tells me. "In all of those 30 years, there's been really easy times, and there have been really hard times. It's like a relationship that you would have with family, at this point.”

What keeps the band together is ultimately more powerful than career momentum.

“If there's one thing that we all have, it's this bond of the band – we have this dedication to the music, and this belief in the music that we're making.”

That belief will be brought to Dublin's 3Olympia Theatre in September. Over the years, Nick has celebrated two birthdays in the city. There was also an afternoon when Harmer, Gibbard and their friend John unexpectedly crossed paths outside a Dublin coffee shop.

“He was over there travelling, and we happened to be there on a day off," Nick recalls. "We didn't even know each other was there, but we ran into him just outside a coffee shop. Ben and I bought coffee with John, and we sat out in front of this coffee shop for almost the entire afternoon. It was just the most pleasant afternoon I can remember having in the longest time – all three of us just sitting around in Dublin, talking about music, drinking good coffee, watching people walk by. Everybody was nice. It was just amazing.”

Their music has always found meaning in small moments. Now, as audiences look back towards an era before constant notifications and social-media performance, those moments feel more precious than ever.

Death Cab aren't simply revisiting their past. They are taking some of the qualities associated with it – sincerity, curiosity, connection and optimism – and bringing them into the present.

“What motivates me, and really drives me, is that I still feel like we have yet to make our best record," Nick concludes. "I still feel like we have more to explore, say and play. I feel like there's always something just around the next corner that's worth exploring.

“There's a curiosity in that, that has remained very alive and intact in my life. And there is a drive and a motivation to push myself as a player and as a bandmate, to be better and better, and to know more.”

Death Cab for Cutie play the 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin on September 16 & 17. Listen to I Built You a Tower below: