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| Narrow Stairs | 
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| Artist: Death Cab For Cutie
Label: Atlantic
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $7.00
You Save: $11.98 (63%)
New (63) Used (30) from $6.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  99 reviews
Sales Rank: 139
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 452796
UPC: 075678994654
EAN: 0075678994654
ASIN: B0017I1RH4
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Narrow Stairs, Wider Sound May 14, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Some of us who listened to Death Cab For Cutie albums before the radio told everyone else to do the same lamented the predictable excess of watered-down ballads their major label debut served up, a self-conscious "now we need to sound like the band they signed" paranoia that provoked the most claustrophobic production job of Chris Walla's career, exchanging the bite of The Photo Album for the blather of Plans, the hard nose of "That's Incentive" for the glass jaw of "Someday You Will Be Loved." "It would be nice if a band reaching for a larger audience had a sound that matched that sense of ambition," Pitchfork complained at the time.
As song after song on Narrow Stairs demonstrates, the boys heard the criticism, and they're fighting back with mixed success. Though the album indulges some of the same water balloons and vapor the band packed into Plans, its more rewarding moments unleash a brazenness they haven't displayed since Gibbard put out a cassette called You Can Play These Songs With Chords. "I hope this album is a bit of a surprise for those out there that think they have us all figured out," Cab bassist Nick Harmer boasts.
That's fine, but the gripes that greeted their Atlantic debut a few years back were born not of boredom, but of affection for the band that Harmer & Friends left behind at Barsuk. Long before they turned to the ballads-by-the-numbers formula of Plans, they brewed organic indie-pop collections that sported as many teeth as tears, an occasional crunch of guitar intruding to toughen the tempo. Plans, by contrast, sounded too much like a stump speech for President of Emo-Nation than a Death Cab album, drenched in the weepy whispers and atmospherics that give Emo a bad name.
Confronting the confines of a major label's conservative vision this time around, they depart more dramatically than ever from the band we knew just four years ago, with its 8-minute singles ("I Will Possess Your Heart") and African drums ("Pity and Fear"). Something genuinely engaging happens on the admittedly charming "You Can Do Better Than Me," a clamor of Christmas bells and organ carrying the song to destinations no Death Cab album's gone before. And the sonically massive "Pity and Fear," for all its theatrics and distortion, features one of the grittiest vocal performances of Gibbard's career, the edges of his fragile croon roughened by a morbid and memorable attitude.
This is clearly not the Death Cab For Cutie you listened to in high school. We can cue the usual cliches here about maturity and evolution, but ultimately Narrow Stairs is a conflicted-if beautiful-document of divergent creative paths. Familiar shades of Plans flicker amid the flames of a visionary angst that that album hardly even sniffed, and the band seems invested enough in those newer horizons to dig up more where that came from next time around. In the aftermath of such historic transformations as bands like Wilco and Radiohead have undergone, Narrow Stairs suggests that we may be witnessing another musical metamorphosis in the making-one with the rare potential to break its own ground.
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 The Narrow Stairs Lead Two Steps Down May 14, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I rate this CD with 3 stars when comparing it with their previous 2 full lengths. "Trans" would get 4 stars from me and I would give "Plans" 5 stars. With that being said this is not a bad CD, it just feels like DCFC took a step backwards. Musically maybe I can say they tried to progress with an up-beat style in some of the tracks but I think in some weird way that I can't pinpoint, this CD lacks emotion. "Trans" had some great up-beat songs so the fact that DCFC can succeed with up-beat songs isn't a question in my mind. There is just something that lacks in the songs, some of them are kind of dull, nothing special. IMO, there are really only five good songs (3 great songs-Bixby Canyon Bridge, Grapevine Fires, Your New Twin Sized Bed). The others I am actually finding more dull and mediocre by DCFC standards everytime I listen to them. I am pretty disappointed with this release.
 I think this is their best album yet May 14, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've been listening to Stairs nonstop for the past few days, and I think it's their best work to date. In fact, I'm surprised that not too many reviewers agree with me on this. I suppose you can call me a die hard fan, as I have pretty much their entire collection on my ipod, I've seen Death Cab in concert and Ben Gibbard's solo tour and I'm going to see them again in June (decided to go after hearing the album for the first time). I'm not going to lie and say Stairs is perfect, but I think the strongest tracks trump much of what Death Cab has done before.
I'd like to go through it song by song, so bear with me.
Bixby Canyon Bridge: I agree with what everyone else said - best opening imaginable. It seems at first like it's going in the direction of a Transatlanticism ballad, but then they deliver a heavily percussive, distorted power-chord rhythim (not so unlike "Blacking out the Friction") that drives the rest of the track. At first, I though that the "Dre-e-eam" part was too long (and partially ruined the song), but I've gotten used to it, and now I think it fits. The beginning and end of the song are really melodic and beautiful. This is tied for my favorite track on the album.
I Will Possess Your Heart: I loved this song when it first came out, but compared to some of the new tracks it seems to have lost a bit of its luster. However, the bass line is great, as are the lyrics. I agree with other reviewers that the 4 minute intro is either wonderful or frustrating depending upon your mood, but you can always skip ahead.
No Sunlight: I would have to call this one of the weakest songs on the album, though it's still pretty decent. The lyrics are really depressing and oddly matched with a peppy and upbeat tempo. Not a terrible song, but it's up against a lot of tough competition.
Cath...: Tied with Bixby for my favorite song on the album. I am extremely surpirsed that this song hasn't gotten better press, because I think it's one of the best in the band's repetoire. I think Bixby is very much a product of the album and works best in the context of the CD, but Cath I think can be a wonderful standalone track. Beautiful melody and guitar and great lyrics. Makes an amazing acoustic solo too, as Gibbard demonstrated on his tour. I also love the return to a tragic wedding scene alla "Company Calls" and its "Epilogue."
Talking Bird: Ballad, a little boring, but it's still pretty decent depending upon your mood. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't seem to fit in that well with the rest of the album.
You Can Do Better than Me: Interesting instrumentation; I love the juxtoposition of parade music with lyrics stating "It seems to me that we stay together out of fear of dying alone... You can do better than me, but I can't do better than you." The song has a lot of novelty, but that might wear off eventually. They kept it under 2 minutes, so I think it works well.
Grapevine Fires: The third best track on the album. I think the song is fairly unique for Death Cab; it's slow and I would say kind of soulful. It really grows on you.
Your New Twin Sized Bed: Yet another depressing song about giving up on love. I think these lyrics made me the saddest of any on the CD. Something about "you look so defeated lying there in your new twin sized bed," makes me feel depressed. Really good song though.
Long Division: It took me a while to get into this song, but it's very catchy and has a cool retro feel. It's a solid track.
Pity and Fear: I also didn't really like this one until recently. Now I think it's fairly decent. There's something about the feel of the song that I'm not crazy about, but I think I'm starting to get into it.
The Ice is Getting Thinner: I was surprised when I first heard this because it is completely different from the way Ben Gibbard played it on his solo tour. He did a piano version that sounded like something in between "Transatlanticism" and the intro to "Different Names for the Same Thing," but the studio version with a slow, hollow guitar accompanyment couldn't be more different. Good closer for the album, and very haunting.
In the final analysis, Stairs, like every DCFC album before it, has some tuly great songs and some mediocre ones. But I think the great songs on this CD (Bixby, Possess Your Heart, Cath, Grapevine Fires and Ice Getting Thinner) carry it a lot further than its predecessors. I think Stairs has some of the feel of We Have the Facts and The Photo Ablum with the polish of Plans. It's nice to see them going in a new direction while still staying decidedly Death Cab.
a great follow-up to a near-perfect, "plans"... May 15, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
so here is one of the most anticipated albums of 2008 from washington's, death cab for cutie.
it's been almost three years since they released their masterpiece, "plans". fans and critics alike both loved and hated it. although more polished and accessible, hardcore DCFC fans cried "sell-out" while the critics for the most part praised it. all in all, "plans" was pretty much a perfect record through and through, end of story. while "transatlanticism" was also a masterpiece, "plans" found the band smoothing the rough edges in their sound and found their way to the radio releasing three singles that did quite well. not to mention selling over a million records for a once underground, small indie band is something pretty incredible.
while i've heard things about this album and read reviews about it before it came out, i knew no matter what i was going to love the record even if it didn't live up to my expectations to be as great as their last two records. rumors about ben's lyrics being the darkest and most confessional he's ever written while the songs themselves with underlying dark tones, i knew this was going to be a different side of the band no one's seen before.
after hearing "narrow stairs" on the way home in my car i definitely knew one thing was for sure. this is not their best record and isn't near perfect like their last two were. i know all of you diehard DCFC fans agree with me on this as well. no way is this their strongest effort yet but is a strong and different sound/side to the band we haven't heard before. as where i fell immediately in love upon first listen with "plans", this record was just the opposite. i noticed some standouts upon first listen but that was only about 4 or 5 of the songs. like their older records, this one's going to take awhile to grow on me.
although, this is not their strongest record (actually, third strongest behind "trans..."), you almost don't really care. i say this because where this album lacks compared to their older stuff is actually where the album shines. i know that sounds like a contradiction but the songs that didn't stand out to me are experimental for the band but i know eventually in time (10-20 listens) i'm going to really love these songs. if anything, this is the most diverse death cab album yet. as where all of their previous albums had the same flow and sound throughout the entire album, this album has lots of different songs that don't really sound to much like the next.
the album starts off with the "bixby canyon bridge" song where it starts off like a normal death cab song than at about 2 mins in a distorted guitar riff takes you by surprise and the song goes in a totally different direction. the second song and first single "i will possess your heart" starts off with an incredible (yet patience-testing) 4.5 min built until gibbard chimes and sings about a nice guy stalking a girl who he thinks is meant to be with. very creepy lyrics but it works well and is a catchy song. next, you have "no sunlight" which is comparable to "crooked teeth" off plans or something off of "the photo album". it's upbeat and catchy but with contradicting dark, pessimistic lyrics. "cath..." is definitely one of the highlights on the album and is just a great song with some touching lyrics. the next two songs "talking bird" & "you can do better than me" are experiments for DC and aren't as strong as other tracks but are slowly growing on me. "grapevine fires" is an excellent song and one of the best on the album next to the single. "your new twin sized bed" and "long division" are your more typical DCFC songs with some heart-breaking, sad lyrics but that's nothing compared to the last two songs. "pity and fear" is the song that made me do a double take and make sure i was actually listening to death cab. this is like nothing they've done before. it's very dark, drony, and really ugly with some incredibly dark lyrics. but that's nothing, it gets worse... the closer on the album "the ice is getting thinner" is downright ugly and depressing. the metaphorical title and lyrics are obviously about a failing relationship and the song is very slow and dark. the song itself was actually making me feel uncomfortable. i was relieved for it to be over but then again i went back and listened to it again. that's the thing with this album, the songs are different but very compelling and intriguing.
the whole album is like that...you have your typical DC songs, you have some really breathtaking/exceptional songs (#1, #2, #4, #7), and then you have the experimental/ugly ones that you can't help but to hit the repeat button. i think it's fair to say this album is a mixed bag but not in a bad way at all. if you're a huge fan of the band you're going to like this album for what it is, a great record full of diversity. if you're just now finding out about this amazing band than you might want to start with one of their last two records.
it seems anymore their are only a select few bands/artists who actually reinvent themselves and make music exciting with every one of their releases. few bands think for themselves and make music the way THEY want to regardless of peer pressure from their fans, their record label, and what everyone expects them to do. besides death cab the only other bands making original, daring, exciting, fresh music these days are brand new, bright eyes, my morning jacket, thrice, and most definitely radiohead. instead of making another mainstream-friendly version of "plans", they make this bold, daring record that is pretty rough around the edges. so for that, i thank death cab for being individuals and calling the shots. this is one of the few bands making interesting music today and i can't wait to hear what they come up with next. not their best, but still very strong and one of the year's best. highly recommended of course!
I am now a fan May 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
i have never been a die hard death cab fan because i tend to stick to acoustic rock but bands like the killers and now death cab give me hope for rock. It is just nice to hear creativity, great vocals, and amazing production without making it cookie cutter. Great album i highly recomend.
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