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Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs |
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Written by Amanda Eaton
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May 15, 2008 at 01:02 PM |
Artist: Death Cab For Cutie
Album: Narrow Stairs
Release: 05.13.08
Label:Atlantic Records
Rating: 9 of 10
A while ago, in my review of Chris Walla's solo album Field Manual, I described Death Cab for Cutie as an "unassuming behemoth" and thought myself quite clever. Turns out I was wrong. It’s now clear that Death Cab, though hugehugehuge for an "indie band" (never mind that they’re signed to mega-label Atlantic now) is definitely no longer "unassuming.” Their latest, Narrow Stairs, changes up the formula just enough to prove that they are interested in expanding their sound, but not so much that they risk losing their ever-growing fanbase. You can hear their consciousness of the need to broaden and change to keep relevant in the newfound rawness and darkness of the record. Of course, being Death Cab, they also make it sound effortless and natural.
The album opens with the muscular rock piece "Bixby Canyon Bridge," a tale of death and sorrow with an eerie, ghostly feel (especially toward the end of the track) that proves that indeed the hype is right; there is blood on these stairs. It's also Death Cab's “hardest” album yet; their sound here harks back to their pre-Transatlanticism days, when they were making records like Something About Airplanes and We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes, before they were universally heralded as the sensitive indie rock romantics of the 2000s.
The experience of listening to Narrow Stairs is actually a lot like watching the TV show Twin Peaks-- for all the surface charm of their far-above-average indie pop hooks, cute quirky strangeness, and Ben Gibbard's wistful voice, there are elements of horror, darkness, and suffering just below the surface. This is most evident on "No Sunlight," the most uplifting, pop-infused number on the album, bouncing along on a sunny hook while lamenting the death of the narrator's optimism about love-- hence, the absence of sunlight. Gibbard's lyrics have always been especially literary and full of poetry-- they rarely approach the starkness of "You Can Do Better Than Me." Clocking in at just about 2 minutes, it is breathtaking with its central lines: "We stay together out of fear/ Of dying alone... You can do better than me/ but I can't do better than you." It shows that Death Cab is still interested in arousing the emotions of its listeners—their primary target, for all the new ghoulishness, is still the heart.
Speaking of, there is of course the single "I Will Possess Your Heart," a piano-driven would-be ballad that's, upon paying attention to the lyrics, a creepy stalker's threat, disguised as valentine, to his beloved victim.
Like its predecessor, the excellent Plans, Stairs has almost no throwaways-- the only exception is the slightly overwrought "Your New Twin Sized Bed." But this is a tiny quibble to have about an album that boasts beautiful, haunting songs about love, loss, and the inevitable fate of growing old-- themes that have become the Death Cab standard. However, the darker, bloodier edges are beginning to show, and it only serves to make its more precious elements more sublime.
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