Death Cab for Cutie pleasantly leads fans down 'Narrow Stairs'
By Max Bonem, Staff Writer
May 12, 2008 | 4:01 a.m.
Walking into my sister’s room during my freshman year of high school, I was bombarded by the erupting sounds of “The New Year,” the opening song on Death Cab for Cutie's album Transatlanticism. Although I was skeptical at first, I began embracing this divergent style of music. Over the next few years, Death Cab for Cutie, along with two other Seattle-based indie bands The Shins and Modest Mouse, would completely change the way I look at popular music.
Although all three of these bands have made the jump from small indie labels to major record labels in the past couple of years, Death Cab for Cutie still holds a special place in my heart above the other two. Whether it’s the vividness of the lyrics or lead singer Ben Gibbard’s nerdy, crooning voice, the band has instilled songs in my mind that can balance any emotional strain that I could possibly encounter.
Narrow Stairs, which is Death Cab for Cutie’s second release via Atlantic Records, is a complete turnaround from its previous album, the positive and harmonious Plans. Because of the success of Plans, which has sold just short of 950,000 copies, Death Cab for Cutie was able to spend a much longer period of time practicing, recording and mixing the new album. But how long is too long between releasing albums? For Ben Gibbard and company, three years was just right.
After first listening to the new album, no songs particularly stand out as new classics. After seriously devoting some time to Narrow Stairs, however, the 11-song record can really grow on you.
The opening track, “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” which is a well-known landmark in Big Sur, Calif., was inspired by Gibbard’s time spent there attempting to connect with the spirit of famed writer Jack Kerouac. Kerouac’s novel “Big Sur” speaks heavily of confronting death, and the opening line from “Bixby Canyon Bridge” has a similar effect. “I descended a dusty gravel ridge/Beneath the Bixby Canyon Bridge/Until I eventually arrived/At the place where your soul had died.”
The song that will catch the devoted Death Cab for Cutie fan by the most surprise is the previously released single "I Will Possess Your Heart." Although the title sounds reminiscent of several past Death Cab for Cutie songs, the 8:35-long epic begins with four minutes of thumping bass, dim guitar licks and piano sequences. Once Gibbard begins singing, the song paints a vivid picture of an obsessed lover who attempts to convince a stranger that they are supposed to be together: “How I wish you could see the potential/The potential of you and me/It’s like a book elegantly bound/But in a language that you can’t read.”
As a whole, Narrow Stairs lacks a track that possesses the same magnitude and intensity that past Death Cab for Cutie albums have had, such as “Styrofoam Plates,” “Tiny Vessels,” or even “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.” However, the album does offer a variety of songs that narrate emotional states of post-adolescent life. There are songs of obsession (“I Will Possess Your Heart”), songs of despair (“No Sunlight,” “Pity and Fear”) and of course, songs about the one that got away (“Cath…,” “The Ice Is Getting Thinner”).
The stand outtracks on Narrow Stairs all resonate for different reasons: “Cath…” is very reminiscent of vintage Death Cab for Cutie, “Grapevine Fires” is full of the amazing imagery that Death Cab for Cutie fans have grown to love, and “The Ice Is Getting Thinner” does what every good ending track should — it leaves you with a sense of closure.
If nothing else, Narrow Stairs shows the evolution of a band that has been around for almost a decade. Death Cab for Cutie has grown from a college band from central Washington into the face of indie music, and now Ben Gibbard and company have produced an album that can provide enjoyment for any music listener searching for the final tier of those narrow stairs.
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