Death Cab for Cutie Exit Atlantic After 20 Years, Sign With ANTI- Ahead of New LP I Built You a Tower

Death Cab for Cutie left Atlantic Records after two decades and have signed with ANTI- to release their 11th album, I Built You a Tower, in June.

The band joined Atlantic in 2004 after the crossover success of 2003’s Transatlanticism. At the time, they felt the move made sense. “When we were opening ourselves up to that possibility [of signing with a major], we had seen some bands that we admired in the years prior wait [roughly] an album too late to sign to a major,” they said. “We fell into a really great situation with Transatlanticism hitting the way it did and selling hundreds of thousands of copies. We felt that that was the moment to strike.”

They framed the decision in practical terms. “Our goal wasn’t to become Coldplay or anything like that — no disrespect to Coldplay — but it was like, if we could have a major-label radio department pushing this music at what was then alternative radio, we might be able to level up a bit.”

The band says their time at Atlantic did not produce the “major-label horror stories” often associated with such deals. They credited the label’s treatment in part to the leverage they arrived with. “We arrived at Atlantic having sold a considerable number of records and had a lot of heat behind us,” they said. Still, toward the end of the relationship they say Atlantic “was running out of ideas as to how to market us, how to present us.”

Despite that, they emphasize there was no interference in the creative process. “Through that entire 20 years, there wasn’t a single moment where anybody told us what to do or had any kind of negative outside influence on the music we were making,” they said. “I think that we collectively felt that the relationship we had with Atlantic accomplished pretty much everything we wanted to accomplish.”

Their departure accelerated after a change in Atlantic’s leadership. The band had “initially signed for one more record [after 2022’s Asphalt Meadows], and literally within a week of signing that contract, [Atlantic Records co-chair/COO] Julie Greenwald was let go, and we were like, ‘Well, we definitely don’t want to be here now, given the new leadership. We ­definitely don’t want to have anything to do with these people.'” They said they were able to extricate themselves from the contract “due to some maneuvering,” and then decided not to pursue another major-label home.

The route to ANTI- began at a wedding. “At a wedding [in fall 2024], I found myself sitting next to Mike Krol, who has been on Merge Records for a long time, and his wife, Allison Crutchfield, who at the time was doing A&R at ANTI-, and we got talking about music and labels,” they recalled. That conversation led to a closer look at ANTI-‘s roster. “I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, Slow Pulp are on ANTI-. We were touring with them, we love them. ‘Oh, our friends The Beths just signed to ANTI-. Fleet Foxes are on ANTI-; we’ve known those guys for a long time. And I’m friends with Neko; Neko Case is on ANTI-. Holy s–t!’ I was realizing what a great roster this was.”

Meetings with label figures sealed the fit. “Being in a room with [ANTI- founder] Andy Kaulkin and Brett Gurewitz [of Bad Religion and founder of ANTI- parent Epitaph] and Allison, it just felt more comfortable,” they said. They noted it had been a while since they had been on a label run by people who were “first and foremost musicians and had been in bands — or were in bands.” Conversations about the creative process and the band’s next chapter felt easier at ANTI- than they had at Atlantic.

They also pointed to ANTI-‘s parent company. “One of the things that we really like about ANTI- and by extension Epitaph is that Epitaph has been thoroughly independent from the jump. Epitaph also has sold a lot of f–king records. They clearly have built a pretty large coffer of resources from the ’90s on and have been really successful.” By their estimate, “the recording budget, video budgets, marketing budgets, all this stuff has been pretty similar [to Atlantic].”

On the role of majors for guitar-based music today, they were blunt. “If you’re making rock’n’roll-based music, like guitar music, in 2026, I don’t see in what world being on a major label is more helpful. I just don’t. It was in 2004. It certainly isn’t now.”

—As told to Eric Renner Brown