We’ve been waiting for a recording from Ben Gibbard’s Sunday show at San Francisco’s Noise Pop Festival to surface — as the Death Cab for Cutie frontman unveiled solo versions of a couple songs off their forthcoming album — and now the Codes and Keys sneak preview has arrived… FYDCFC (via CoS) pointed to two surprisingly great-sounding bootlegged recordings from the show of Gibbard playing the title track on piano and new solo song “When The Sun Goes Down On Your Street” backed by acoustic guitar. Per recent interviews with the band, these stripped-down live versions are likely not similar to the synth-heavy studio takes. The album isn’t due until May 31, though, so in the meantime, you can hear “Codes and Keys” here, the latter tune here, or both streaming below.
*Update: Gibbard clarified that “When The Sun Goes Down On Your Street” is actually a solo song he wrote for the forthcoming Russell Brand-starring film Arthur. Only the first tune below is off the new Death Cab LP.
“Codes and Keys” (Ben Gibbard, Live)
“When The Sun Goes Down On Your Street” (Ben Gibbard, Live)
Many thanks to Tony Carreno, who made these excellent recordings and kindly gave us permission to share them. Tony also sent us the full concert earlier today, so now you can check out Gibbard’s duet with Bob Mould and cover of a Buck Owens song here:
“Love’s Gonna Live Here” (Buck Owens Cover) + Banter About Decade-Old Avril Lavigne Cover
“If I Can’t Change Your Mind” (Featuring Bob Mould)