I'll admit it, when I saw Death Cab on The Late Late Show about a month back, I felt a twinge of cognitive dissonance. I knew the song ("Cath...") and I knew that was Ben Gibbard's voice coming through the TV, but the guy singing totally didn't look or act like Ben Gibbard. He was svelte with long hair, and he was kinda attacking his guitar. Throttling it. And the performance was leaner and tenser than anything I'd seen from these guys. For a second, Mr. Zooey Deschanel almost looked chic (as opposed to geek-chic).But all that's over now, and you too can see the trimmed-down Gibbard and his crew live and in person across the U.S. this spring. Before that they'll hit a few cities in Japan and Australia. The quartet continue to support their rather-good 2008 LP Narrow Stairs, and the tour will see opening sets from Cold War Kids, Ra Ra Riot, and Matt Costa. And if you spot Zooey in the audience, please send a tip to: wtf_re:thehappening@pitchforkmedia.com. read more