Ben Gibbard isn’t famous. At least, that’s what he tells me on a call from his home in Seattle, at the tail end of a weeks-long media circuit, during which he’s hardly had a chance to catch his breath. But even if you haven’t heard of him, there’s a good chance you know Death Cab for Cutie, the band he’s fronted for close to three decades.

When we speak, Gibbard, who turned 50 in August, has been promoting Death Cab’s much-anticipated 11th album, I Built You a Tower . Releasing a record is tough, but Gibbard isn’t complaining. The positive reception to his latest work has been, he says, a pleasant reminder that the band’s egos have not degraded their taste.

“We were quietly confident when we were making it [the album] but there’s always that moment where you’re like, ‘Oh my god, did we actually make something good or are we just completely deluding ourselves?’” he says.

Gibbard, and bass guitarist Nicholas Harmer, are the two remaining original members of Death Cab, which formed in Bellingham, Washington…