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Death Cab For Cutie Announce New EP

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Possibly to buy Ben Gibbard more snuggle time with new fiancé Zooey Deschanel before returning to the studio, Death Cab For Cutie have announced the release of an odd-and-ends EP called The Open Door, featuring never-before heard songs from the Narrow Stairs sessions.

“There were four extra songs [from the Narrow Stairs sessions],” bassist Nick Harmer told MTV.com. “Because we were trying to put together an album, we ended up not including them — it’s not like they’re castoffs or anything; they’re part of the Narrow Stairs experience,” he added. “They needed to have a proper home, and the EP is it.”

In addition to the four new tracks, Harmer said the EP will feature the original version of Narrow Stairs tune “Talking Bird” with Ben Gibbard singing and playing the ukulele. The EP is due for release this year.

The album news follows the recent release of Death Cab’s music video for “Grapvine Fires” — an affecting animated production that follows a boy on a bike as he copes with one of California’s many natural disasters. Watch below.

“I’m a huge comic book fan, so there was that,” Harmer explained of the video’s creation. “Plus, in my head, I couldn’t see any kind of live-action video that wouldn’t come off as heavy-handed or overwrought. So we knew what we didn’t want it to be. Plus, we knew we should do a cameo, which meant we’d get to be animated, so that was a bonus.”

Harmer, who handles visual art for the band, then tapped animation team Walter Robot, who, Harmer said, took the project and disappeared before finally contacting him earlier this year. “I had no idea how it was going to turn out,” Harmer said. “I either thought they were going to nail it, or the whole thing was going to be a complete disaster. Needless to say, they totally nailed it.”

Watch: Death Cab For Cutie, “Grapevine Fires” (Check out Death Cab loading their van at the 1:13 mark)
https://www.youtube.com/embed/bmpMQA0qfuM