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Stairs have never been this relaxing.

Death Cab delivers on their seventh album.

Death Cab For Cutie

Narrow Stairs

Released on Nov 30, -0001

It’s been almost three years since indie rockers Death Cab for Cutie have delivered an album to the eager masses. Their critically acclaimed and award-winning 2005 release Plans helped to catapult them fully into the mainstream. The success of Plans and the quality of the band’s entire catalogue make Narrow Stairs one of the most anticipated albums of 2008. It’s completely understandable that an album could take that long to produce, though. Ben Gibbard has been sporadically working on the next Postal Service release and Chris Walla was trying, and failing, to deliver a quality solo effort. Be at ease though, the long wait is finally over and the product is worth the wait.

The strangely cheerful dejectedness that has permeated much of the band’s music is still present here in most of the tracks. The first single, “I Will Possess Your Heart” is an ambitious eight minute expression of obsession. The song begins with a four minute instrumental that includes a wonderfully catchy bass line as well as some interesting electronic guitar effects in the background. Lyrically, the song is almost the antithesis of “Someday You Will Be Loved.” The latter expressed sorrow at ending a relationship. “I Will Possess Your Heart” conveys the angst of unrequited love, opting to gain love by any means necessary.

As a whole, the album is varied enough to not become repetitive, but cohesive in that the songs maintain a fairly consistent sound. Each track is distinctly Death Cab, but at the same time they seem bigger, almost more ambitious. There isn’t really a good way to describe the difference that would make sense, but upon listening the difference is apparent. Possibly the greatest thing about Narrow Stairs is that there isn’t a single track that stands out as “the best.” It seems like every time through the album, a different track is the one that you like the most. The first time, it may be the infectious “I Will Possess Your Heart” that you remember most, but after two, three or four listens, you may find yourself leaning more toward “Grapevine Fires,” “The Ice is Getting Thinner” or “Long Division.” Each time, the layering and scale of each track become more and more evident as different elements stand out. Before long, you’re listening to “No Sunlight” for the third time in the past two hours without realizing that you’ve gotten absolutely no work done because you’ve been too busy just listening to the music.

Some critics have heralded Narrow Stairs as the band’s best work to date. While it is an extremely good album, it’s difficult to objectively classify anything as a band’s best immediately upon release. The build-up of waiting close to three years between releases has a significant effect on the perception of the quality of any release. A mediocre effort will seem worse, while a good one will seem amazing. As good as Narrow Stairs is, just like any other great album, not without its flaws. After close to ten complete listens, it becomes apparent that this album will be one that people either love or hate. The nonsensical noise in a few of the tracks, like the end of “Bixby Canyon Bridge” may seem annoying and unnecessary to some, while others embrace it. The one potential flaw that blatantly stands out, however, is the length of “I Will Possess Your Heart.” Eight minutes is, in many cases, too much for the average person to listen to…especially when the first four minutes of the song is an instrumental.

High Point: The bass line in “I Will Possess Your Heart” is possibly the most infectious thing since the bubonic plague.

Low Point: Upon first listen, the first four minutes of the aforementioned song can get repetitive quickly.

Quick Point: They just kicked off their summer tour. All of the shows still have tickets available, except for the Chicago date.

Posted by Cory Roop on May 12, 2008 @ 12:00 am