A lot of meaning can be attached to a name. But when it comes to bands, the name is just as likely to mean absolutely nothing. Indie bands, or bands with indie roots, have almost exclusively taken the art of obscure naming practices to new heights.
Take the American quartet Death Cab for Cutie: their name is song-inspired, taken from the title of a song by the even more obscurely named band called Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
The curiously-named band have recently released their seventh album, Codes and Keys.
The 11-track record has peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200. Songs run the gamut of genres, but the band were eager to make it less guitar-centric with less literal lyrics than their previous offerings.
'Throughout writing almost all of the songs on this record, [I found] that I wanted to keep it really concise,' vocalist Ben Gibbard says. 'I wanted songs to have more hooks, less lyrics.'
Codes and Keys is as nomadic an album as it gets. It was recorded in bits and pieces over a period of seven months in recording studios all over the US West Coast. According to bassist Nick Harmer, it was the 'most fragmented that we've done in terms of time-on-time-off'. The approach brought a continual stream of fresh ideas, creating a positive space for the creative juices of the band to flow.
