Ben Gibbard talks about 'Disintegration'

Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service) talking to Buzzfeed:

"One of my favorite records ever was The Cure’s Disintegration, and I listened to it last week like it was a brand-new record. I first fell in love with that record when I was 14, and it just immediately transported me to, like, being 14 and all the things I was going through when I was listening to this record: where I was in my life, what my room looked like when we lived in Virginia, all this stuff. So I don’t know what these songs are about in Robert Smith’s life and frankly I don’t really care, because I have my own visual images that’ll always be connected to that record. So I think that’s what it is with people that sing along with our songs too. Not because we’re so special that people would do that, that’s just how it works with music."
(Thanks @colsonslife)

And Ben tells American Songwriter that Robert is one of his favorite songwriters:

"Robert Smith is a writer who made me want to write songs. Listening to The Cure at 13-14 years old, as an open-hearted, emotional teenager resonated with me in a really profound way. I was walking down to my studio today and put on Disintegration. I’ve been listening to Disintegration for 25 years, maybe even more than that, and I still put it on and get taken with it. The lyrics are heavy and very dark and emotional. It’s very much of him, and nobody can do that kind of lyric writing the way he can. So I love Robert Smith."

And more love for 'Disintegration' in this new review from XS Noize. (Thanks to Marina from TheCure Comunidad Argentina)

Update (04/08/15): Ben just keeps on praising The Cure.  This from Esquire:

"From the time I started listening to my own music—there's that period when you're an adolescent and early teen and you start to discover music on you own, whether it's from the radio or MTV—I immediately had this connection with the Cure. I know that's the same for Nick [Harmer] and Jason [McGerr], and I don't know if I can speak for Chris anymore, but I'll say Chris as well. Disintegration was the record that came out when I was 12 or 13, and as a young, very emotional preteen—my dad was in the Navy and we moved a lot—that record and songs like 'Pictures of You,' they really struck a chord with me. I just felt so connected to that music from such an early age. They're a band that as you grow older you might be embarrassed to admit you liked at one point or you have to say you liked them with a kind of smirk, as if certain bands are stepping stones to other bands. But that has value. I'm sure we're that band for some people. But for me the Cure are a band that I still listen to very often and there are still things in their music I have yet to discover. I'm still learning whenever I listen to them. They're still a huge influence on me."
(Thanks John P.)