Accessibility links
Ben Gibbard Ben Gibbard artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

Ben Gibbard

New Mix: Courtney Barnett, Ben Gibbard And Tycho, Sparks, More

Clockwise from upper left: Mega Bog, Sparks, Courtney Barnett, Tycho (left) with Ben Gibbard Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artist

All Songs Considered

New Mix: Courtney Barnett, Ben Gibbard And Tycho, Sparks, More

All Songs host Bob Boilen shares his favorite songs of the week, including a long-overdue celebration of Sparks, a Ben Gibbard collaboration with Tycho, the return of Courtney Barnett and more.

New Mix: Courtney Barnett, Ben Gibbard And Tycho, Sparks, More

Listen · 37:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1015356094/1199263107" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
From The Urgent To The Absurd, Musicians Take On The Coronavirus Through Song

New Kids on the Block's "House Party," featuring Boyz II Men, Big Freedia, Jordin Sparks and Naughty by Nature, is just one of the coronavirus quarantine-inspired songs released over the past months. YouTube/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

toggle caption
YouTube/Screenshot by NPR

The Coronavirus Crisis

From The Urgent To The Absurd, Musicians Take On The Coronavirus Through Song

Many musicians canceled tours and delayed album releases due to the pandemic. But some are now using home recording setups and streaming services to write and publish songs about the coronavirus.

From The Urgent To The Absurd, Musicians Take On The Coronavirus Through Song

Listen · 3:21
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/847447189/847447194" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Death Cab For Cutie Is Thankful For 20 Years Of Memories

Death Cab For Cutie inside the World Cafe Performance Studio Dylan Eddinger/WXPN hide caption

toggle caption
Dylan Eddinger/WXPN

World Cafe

Death Cab For Cutie Is Thankful For 20 Years Of Memories

XPN

"We're still considered by virtually everybody as an indie band," says Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard.

Death Cab For Cutie On World Cafe

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/638887242/638906683" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Ben Gibbard: Tiny Desk Concert

Benjamin Gibbard performs a Tiny Desk Concert at the NPR Music offices on Nov. 8, 2012. Lauren Rock/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lauren Rock/NPR

Tiny Desk

Ben Gibbard: Tiny Desk Concert

For this, the 250th Tiny Desk Concert, the Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service singer performs solo and unadorned, with just an acoustic guitar to back him up. Hear Gibbard perform a new song, a little-heard track from 2011, and "St. Peter's Cathedral" from Death Cab's Codes and Keys.

Ben Gibbard: Tiny Desk Concert

Listen · 12:27
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/165279053/165239607" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Ben Gibbard: Living With Ghosts

Ben Gibbard's first album as a solo artist is called Former Lives. Ryan Russell/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Ryan Russell/Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

Ben Gibbard: Living With Ghosts

The Death Cab for Cutie frontman recently released his first solo album, which he says spans eight years, three relationships and two hometowns' worth of songwriting.

Ben Gibbard: Living With Ghosts

Listen · 9:15
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/163264540/163315124" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Fall Music Preview

Graveyard (clockwise from upper left), Martha Wainwright, Flying Lotus, Sera Cahoone, and Cody ChesnuTT. Courtesy of the artists hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artists

All Songs Considered

Fall Music Preview

Preview some of fall's most anticipated new albums from Flying Lotus, Cody ChesnuTT and more.

Fall Music Preview

Listen · 1:04:06
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/161004028/161442389" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Ben Gibbard And Jay Farrar: Kerouac In Song

Benjamin Gibbard and Jay Farrar. Autumn de Wilde/Shore Fire Media hide caption

toggle caption
Autumn de Wilde/Shore Fire Media

World Cafe

Ben Gibbard And Jay Farrar: Kerouac In Song

XPN

What happens when two of the biggest driving forces in indie rock collaborate on album based on Jack Kerouac's beat poetry? The answer: 12 rapturous Americana songs recorded by Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service) and Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo), titled One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur.

Ben Gibbard And Jay Farrar: Kerouac In Song

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121430538/122873543" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Gibbard And Farrar Take On Kerouac's 'Big Sur'

Jay Farrar (right) says 90 percent of the words recorded on One Fast Move or I'm Gone with Benjamin Gibbard come straight from Jack Kerouac. Sonari Glinton/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Sonari Glinton/NPR

Music Interviews

Gibbard And Farrar Take On Kerouac's 'Big Sur'

An unlikely pair has come together to interpret the words and atmosphere of Jack Kerouac's autobiographical novel. Benjamin Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) and Jay Farrar (of Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo) have both found inspiration in Kerouac's prose, creating a song cycle with country tinges.

Gibbard And Farrar Take On Kerouac's 'Big Sur'

Listen · 8:21
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/114095203/114105518" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Fall Music Preview

All Songs Considered

Fall Music Preview

On this All Songs we spin some of the albums we're most looking forward to coming out this fall. Hear previews from The Flaming Lips, choral versions of classic Kinks songs, The Swell Season and more.

Fall Music Preview

Listen · 59:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/113027088/113027087" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Review

Song Of The Day

Feist And Ben Gibbard: Fringe Benefits

"Train Song" is exactly the sort of smart high-concept event that thrives on benefit CDs, complete with big names, a smartly chosen cover song and a simple arrangement. More to the point, it sounds terrific, with Feist's flair for dusky portent mixing perfectly with Ben Gibbard's moody, openhearted croon.

'Train Song' by Feist and Ben Gibbard

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/103528208/103525585" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Video Sessions

Death Cab for Cutie Lets the Meter Run

Death Cab for Cutie stopped by to chat and rock out at the Bryant Park Project studios, where they played a few classics and "I Will Possess Your Heart," a riveting song from their new album, Narrow Stairs.

Death Cab for Cutie Lets the Meter Run

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/90461964/90461939" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Live in Concert

Ben Gibbard Gives Solo Concert

As frontman for the Seattle rock band Death Cab for Cutie, and part of the electro-pop duo Postal Service, Ben Gibbard has won over legions of fans for his literate, bittersweet songwriting. Now Gibbard is embarking on a month-long solo tour. Hear him recorded live in concert from Washington, D.C.

Ben Gibbard

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9935188/10129045" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Browse archive or search npr.org