Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie on new album

Then there were three: Following the departure of guitarist Walla, Death Cab For Cutie now consists of (from left) Harmer (bass), Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), and McGerr (drums). Photo: We Are The Rhoads

Ben Gibbard never thought he’d find himself where he did at the end of 2012. The boyish frontman of Seattle’s Death Cab For Cutie had spent the previous decade and a half establishing a reputation as one of the most sensitive — and hardest-working — figures in American indie rock.

The band’s music, moody but pretty, won devoted fans for its proud sense of vulnerability, and when Death Cab For Cutie hit it big with 2005’s million-selling Plans, the group’s long-building success made it a hero to messy-haired misfits everywhere.