Formed in the sleepy town of Bellingham, Wash., back in 1998, Death Cab for

Cutie quickly gathered up a strong local following, signing to the local indies, Elsinor and Barsuk, and releasing a debut album, "Something About Airplanes," within the band's first year. Three years later, one might assume the hype would have died down. But we've all been warned about what happens when we ass-u-me. The group's sophomore full-length, "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes," rocketed Death Cab into the national limelight. Now, the sensitive quartet is poised to take the world again by storm with the release of "The Photo Album," a 10-song letter of emotional and powerful pop.



Despite all the musical success, the members of Death Cab haven't escaped without some battle scars, although few of them are band-related. Throughout the last year, bassist Nick Harmer nearly lost an eye in a boating accident; guitarist Chris Walla completely lost his balance and broke a foot, while guitarist Ben Gibbard fractured his left arm in a bike accident. Suspiciously, only the group's new drummer, Michael Schorr, escaped unscathed. Weathering these injuries and on-tour illnesses, the band finally made it back to the road in the spring of 2001. Luckily for fans, the group also made it back into the studio. "The Photo Album" picks up, in many ways, where "Facts" and the group's "Forbidden Love" EP left off, focusing on fluttering images of past loves, hopes, and dreams of childhood and the present. "Photo" could easily be the soundtrack to nostalgic super-8 home movies.