Artist: Death Cab for Cutie

Title: Codes and Keys

Label: Atlantic Records

Sure, Death Cab for Cutie is a weird name for a band, but as a reference taken from The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour film, it's indicative of how accessible this indie-minded act can really be.

Further evidence of the gold- and platinum-selling quartet's pop heart came in 2009 when lead singer Ben Gibbard contributed to the liner notes of a Hall & Oates box set. While the strongest musical influences on this seventh album, Codes and Keys, are still traceable to European alternative groups from the 1980s, the Seattle-based outfit continues moving its sound forward here with bright songs about belonging and love.

One's sense of place is a recurring theme on the moody, slow burning opener "Home Is a Fire" and far bouncier, piano-led title track that declares: We won't get far flying circles inside a jar.

Death Cab breaks out with "Doors Unlocked and Open," a driving tune that recalls the intense pace and austere grey poetry of Joy Division. First single "You Are a Tourist" continues the journey with big drums and guitars, bringing to mind Big Country while realizing: If you feel just like a tourist in the city you were born in then it's time to go.

Since Cutie's last album, 2008's Narrow Stairs, Gibbard has married actress Zooey Deschanel (Elf, Yes Man), and you can feel the love on "Some Boys"—a semi-electro Depeche Mode arrangement with Morrissey-like lyrics—as well as the six-minute "Unobstructed Views."

The latter is the set's experimental centerpiece, a meditation on no perfect truth, just our love with Brian Eno ambience and dreamy sounds reminiscent of Low Life-era New Order. Keyboardist and producer Chris Walla should be credited for much of the track's beauty.

Deschanel is also the likely inspiration behind the catchy "Monday Morning" (a straight ahead rocker with a flapping beat) and especially happy, folksy "Stay Young, Go Dancing" where the singer gushes: When she sings . . . I'm renewed. Oh, how I feel alive.

Longtime fans will dig "Underneath the Sycamore" for its standout bass line (comparable to the band's breakthrough hit "Where Soul Meets Body"). And the lyrics about finding peace and being released lead nicely into the philosophic "St. Peter's Cathedral" which leans toward believing when our hearts stop ticking . . . there's nothing past this. If you can get past that cynicism, there's still much to enjoy on Codes and Keys.

*This article first published 6/8/2011