In 1999, when Death Cab For Cutie were only a couple of years into their career as a band, a gas pipeline exploded in their Bellingham, Washington hometown. A gas leak ignited, and the resulting fireball killed three people: One 18-year-old boy and two 10-year-old boys. Today, Death Cab For Cutie memorialize those kids, in a way, in a reflective new song called “Kids In ’99.” Twenty years after the explosion, Ben Gibbard sings, “In the waters where we used to swim / Where we thought we would be young forever / But beads that glisten on your sunburnt skin / Evaporated in the flames and embers.”

Musically, “Kids In ’99” is the same kind of slick, produced, sensitive studio-rock that Death Cab have been making in recent years. There’s glimmering guitar and busy percussion, but the clear focus is Gibbard’s crystalline voice.

“Kids In ’99” is the first single from Death Cab’s just-announced The Blue EP, which will be out later this summer. Death Cab have been awfully busy lately. Last year, they released their album Thank You For Today. And in the past few weeks, Ben Gibbard has covered Frightened Rabbit’s “Keep Yourself Warm” and sung a hook on Chance The Rapper’s new album The Big Day. And now we’re getting five new songs.

Below, listen to “Kids In ’99 and check out the Blue EP tracklist.

TRACKLIST:
01 “To The Ground”
02 “Kids In ‘99″
03 “Man In Blue”
04 “Before The Bombs”
05 “Blue Bloods”

The Blue EP is out 9/6, and you can pre-order it here.