Album review: Death Cab for Cutie’s ‘Codes and Keys’

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For a guy who once sang of Los Angeles, “It’s a lovely summer’s day / And I can almost see a skyline through a thickening shroud of egos,� Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie sure seems to have made a nice new life here.

Marrying Zooey Deschanel will brighten anyone’s mood, but on his band’s new album, “Codes and Keys,� he’s picked up a bit of L.A.’s sun-scarred optimism and a droll domestic satisfaction that’s alternately smug and insightful.

Fortunately, it’s all bolstered by some of the most enticing production of the band’s career. The title track has a nifty orchestral swoon atop some Spector-ish drum pomp and bar piano; the ethereal guitars on “Underneath the Sycamore� back up one of the group’s strongest choruses in years. The nimble krautrock jam “Doors Unlocked & Open� is a perfect genre experiment.

But Gibbard’s barbed wit can feel unattractive coupled with themes of finding bliss. The insistent rocker “Some Boys� catalogs male emotional failures, but with an undercurrent of “…except for this guy� to it. Before, he’d plead guilty first. “Stay Young Go Dancing� is a rebuttal to his old take on L.A.: “Life is sweet in the belly of the beast,� he sings atop a pop-country acoustic guitar. Sounds as if he’s just starting his 500 days of summer.

Death Cab for Cutie
“Codes and Keys�
Atlantic
Two and a half stars (Out of four stars)

-- August Brown