Rock

Death Cab for Cutie plays through the pain

XPN | By Raina Douris,

Miguel Perez

Published June 5, 2026 at 10:01 AM MDT

The show must go on.

It's a phrase you've probably said, even if you're not a performer putting on a literal show. It's something we tell ourselves when we're facing a challenge but still have to keep moving forward.

For Ben Gibbard, frontman of Death Cab for Cutie, that meant stepping onstage night after night while navigating a divorce. Today, Gibbard talks about how playing through that pain shaped the songs on Death Cab's new album, I Built You a Tower, produced by John Congleton.

Plus, Death Cab for Cutie performs in front of a live audience at World Cafe.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.

Rock

Raina Douris

Raina Douris, an award-winning radio personality from Toronto, Ontario, comes to World Cafe from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), where she was host and writer for the daily live, national morning program Mornings on CBC Music. She was also involved with Canada's highest music honors: hosting the Polaris Music Prize Gala from 2017 to 2019, as well as serving on the jury for both that award and the Juno Awards. Douris has also served as guest host and interviewer for various CBC Music and CBC Radio programs, and red carpet host and interviewer for the Juno Awards and Canadian Country Music Association Awards, as well as a panelist for such renowned CBC programs as Metro Morning, q and CBC News.

See stories by Raina Douris

Miguel Perez

Miguel Perez is a radio producer for NPR's World Cafe, based out of WXPN in Philadelphia. Before that, he covered arts, music and culture for KERA in Dallas. He reported on everything from the rise of NFTs in the music industry to the enduring significance of gay and lesbian bars to the LGBTQ community in North Texas.