Zac Rae

Zac Rae is an American musician, best known as the keyboardist, pianist, and multi-instrumentalist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with whom he has recorded two studio albums and two EPs.

[2] In 2015, Rae initially joined Death Cab for Cutie in a touring capacity, following the departure of founding member Chris Walla.

Alongside his duties in Death Cab for Cutie, Rae continues to record as an in-demand studio session musician, contributing to Leonard Cohen's final two studio albums, You Want It Darker (2016) and Thanks for the Dance (2019), and appearing on albums by Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa, Sabrina Carpenter, Childish Gambino, Niall Horan, and Best Coast.

"[1] Rae studied at USC Thornton School of Music in Southern California for two years, before dropping out to find full-time work as a musician: "Shockingly, no one has ever passed me over for a gig because I didn't have a degree.

"[1] Rae's professional career began in 1999: "Around the time I dropped out of music school in 1999, I met a group of more active musicians in LA and I started connecting and working with them in a band called Every Single Saturday.