Death Cab for Cutie Streams New Album for Free

Grammy-nominated indie rock outfit Death Cab for Cutie is streaming their upcoming album, "Codes and Keys," totally free on NPR.com's First Listen.

The new album is set to officially drop on May 31st.

Read on to see what lead singer Ben Gibbard had to say to "Spin" about the uncharacteristically upbeat album (Yes, I said 'upbeat and Death Cab in the same sentence!).

If the only reason you listen to Death Cab for Cutie is that you like maudlin, sometimes depressing lyrics, there's no shortage of that kind of music for you to enjoy. Also, we have an entire back catalog of that s**t. If that's the only reason you listen to our music, then I'm not too worried about losing you.

Death Cab has made a name for themselves with with mostly melancholy music with a plethora of sad and somewhat depressing lyrics. Somehow they still manage to squeeze hope and inspiration into the mix.  But this new album sounds like the boys have hit a much happier and upbeat point in their lives, at least as far as their song-writing is concerned.

Just for kicks here are three of my favorite Death cab songs ever: