AceShowbiz -

Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard is going solo. The singer, who has chosen to go by the name of Benjamin Gibbard for this project, is set to release his first full length solo album titled "Former Lives" on October 16 in the United States.

In an interview with Stereogum, the songwriter disputes any ideas that his solo project is triggered by any problems with his band. "It wasn't a goal and it certainly wasn't a reaction to any sort of dissatisfaction to recording with Death Cab or anything like that," he explains.

He also clarifies that his past solo projects as well as this one are not Death Cab rejects. "In the past whenever I've put out any solo recordings it's just been of a function of the time in which I was in. I'm a songwriter and that's my job, and with every record that we've made there would always be a couple of tunes that just didn't seem to fit in with the band. If people wanted to be dismissive of the record, they could just say 'Oh these are leftovers,' but they're really not," he explains in the same interview.

The album will feature 12 tracks, which were written over an eight-year period and were finally recorded when Gibbard moved from his hometown of Seattle to Los Angeles. The songs were laid down in The Ship, the studio owned by his friend Aaron Espinoza.

Gibbard will have a limited tour following the release of the record to promote it. There is still no word yet on when the first single will be released.