Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard has announced that he will be releasing a 12-track solo collection. Find out when that is expected to be released and what it could mean for the future of Death Cab here:

Gibbard will call his debut solo album 'Former Lives', expected to be released in North America on October 16th. It will feature guest contributions from Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster, Son Volt's Mark Spencer and singer-songwriter Aimee Mann.

Gibbard has been working on his 'Former Lives' songs for awhile, but didn't really start focusing on completing them until a few years ago when he moved to Los Angeles, where he quit drinking, went on a health kick (that landed him in the Los Angeles marathon) and married Zooey Deschanel. Although he has split from Deschanel, Gibbard wants to make it clear that he doesn't plan on leaving his Death Cab mates behind. He told Stereogum,

It certainly wasn't a reaction to any sort of dissatisfaction to recording with Death Cab or anything like that. It certainly doesn't come out of like, 'I have all these songs to record and I'm not getting my fix with the band.' It was never anything like that and I never really had this idea that 'Oh, someday I'll make a solo record,' and that I'll go solo, which is definitely not what this is.

Gibbard plans to announce a limited slate of dates in support of 'Former Lives', which, strictly for this release only, he will be issuing under his full name of Benjamin Gibbard.

Here's the video for Death Cab for Cutie's latest song "Underneath the Sycamore" (currently playing on The Moose):

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