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Narrow Stairs (Bonus Video Version)

Death Cab for Cutie

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iTunes Review

With tunes such as “You Can Do Better Than Me,” “Pity and Fear”, and “The Ice is Getting Thinner”, it’s safe to say no one will accuse Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard of getting too comfortable with his band’s continued popular success. The Death Cab cult grows with each release and 2008’s Narrow Stairs should expand their base even further, since it manages to both remain true to the band’s slumbering speeds and heartfelt manifestos while also focusing their sound into a tight, active unit. Backed with electric piano and Gibbard’s earnest vocals, “Grapevine Fires” paints a creepy romantic portrait of a man, his lover and her daughter in a cemetery observing a distant brushfire. “I Will Possess Your Heart” begins with a long, lurking intro before giving way to an obsessive admirer’s verbal promise to win the affection of his obsession. “Your New Twin Sized Bed” lopes with an irresistible melody. Whether the moments are dark or walking towards the light, Gibbard and his indelible tunes evoke a sweetness not often heard in modern pop music.

Customer Reviews

Death Cab at their best.

This is such a progression from 'Plans', there is more depth, more feeling and more personality. Although they seem to have changed slightly, you can still hear slight similarities to previous songs which is telling you, that they are still Death Cab no matter what. Personal favourites include: 'I Will Possess Your Heart', 'No Sunlight', 'Grapevine Fires', 'Pity and Fear' and 'The Ice Is Getting Thinner'. I need to see this band live, as i'm sure they would show great succession much like this album.

DCFC at their best (albeit different from what we're used to)

At some point between the release of Plans and the recording of Narrow Stairs DCFC must have stumbled across Rob Theakston’s (of all allmusic.com) review of Plans. His conclusion was that DCFC had mastered their sound by the time Plans was released. Indeed, this sound was well crafted and utterly faultless in their fan’s eyes and it is for this reason, why many have been left feeling disappointed after listening to Narrow Stairs. For all extents and purposes DCFC are an extremely competent band capable of creating wonderful sounds to compliment Ben Gibbards stunning lyrics. The fact that Narrow Stairs departs from their finely honed style is both shocking and admirable at the same time. The band is embarking on a somewhat darker journey than with previous records. ‘I Will Possess Your Heart’ is a sinister and demanding piece about love and lust for another and while this terrain is not completely alien to DCFC (recall ‘Tiny Vessels’) the sheer length of the intro and repetitive uneasy quality of the song is new ground and is without doubt one of the highlights of the album. The song ‘Cath’ and ‘Your New Twin Sized Bed’ is more akin to the DCFC we all know and love. Again, the music is tinted with sadness in place of what would have been devotion and perpetual romance if featuring on Plans. A theme which continues throughout the album. Throughout the record Gibbards’s lyrics are as original as ever. He delivers them with his typical gentle hushed style. The lyrics to the before mentioned ‘Cath’ and ‘The Ice is Getting Thinner’ are truly heartbreaking. It would be wrong to say that the album isn’t a shock; but this is only due to the fact that DCFC’s fans have become so accustomed to a style which is faultless and so unique that it shocks us when we hear the departures from this familiar style prevalent throughout Narrow Stairs. The answer is to appreciate that the band are trying new things and their departure forces you to listen harder and for longer than you would expect to of a DCFC album. In doing so the listener will eventually realise that this is still a DCFC record and hopefully accept the fact that the effort involved with acknowledging this point is ultimately what distinguishes the great albums from the good ones.

F**king Dark & Awesome

Those two go well together. Once again the delectable taste of Music strums the chords of our inner being again. The Crooners really know how to get One-Up of us. Twin Sized Bed is especially rhythmic. I might even say Proverbial.

Biography

Formed: 1997 in Bellingham, WA

Genre: Alternative

Years Active: '90s, '00s, '10s

Death Cab for Cutie's rise from small-time solo project to Grammy-nominated rock band is one of indie rock's greatest success stories. Launched in the bayside college town of Bellingham, Washington, the group was originally a side project for singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard, an engineering student at Western Washington University who split his time between school and music. Taking a break from his local power pop band, Pinwheel, Gibbard began recording an album's worth of solo material during the summer...
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