Death Cab for Cutie released Kintsugi, their 8th album, on March 31, 2015. The song El Dorado, like other songs on the record, was written in the wake of the divorce between the band’s lead singer Ben Gibbard and actress Zooey Deschanel. In this episode, Ben talks about the metaphor of the city of El Dorado and how it fit the story he wanted to tell, about separation, unrealized dreams, and Culver City. Plus, he explains how a few pieces of equipment — a Fender Mustang, a Rhythm Master drum machine, and the VoiceLive unit — ended up shaping the creative process.
For a transcript of this episode, click here.
footnotes
The clip of Kimbra using the VoiceLive effects unit is from a live performance of “Settle Down.” Watch the video here.
