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 Narrow Stairs vs. Transatlantacism Jul 21, 2010
This is a great album. I listened to this album endlessly for weeks after it came out. Before Narrow Stairs, my favorite Death Cab album was Transatlanticism, and I kept going back and forth between Transatlantacism and Narrow Stairs as being my favorite dcfc album. After the dust has settled and some time has passed, I'm still very fond of the cold, wintry sound of Transatlantacism, but I think Narrow Stairs is by far my favorite Death Cab album, and I've been listening to them, and have been a loyal fan, for seven years now. Have Narrow Stairs on both CD and vinyl, and I feel compelled to tell everyone reading this little tidbit that this album sounds so much better on vinyl... My other half and I are taking a road trip from Phoenix to Los Angeles to San Francisco this summer. I'm going to listen to Bixby Canyon Bridge just before I cross the actual bridge myself. I'm going to pull the car over, get out, walk down the path, and follow the steps that Ben took. Hopefully I can reach the water. We'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll find some bit of understanding about life, maybe not. But it will be fun to try it out, nevertheless. I'll be reading Henry Miller's Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch before I make the trip, so between Death Cab and Henry, it should be a real hoot. Long Division is one of many favorites on this album, I turn it up way too loud every time the song comes on, much to my other half's chagrin! Hopefully Ben and the rest of the band will come out with another kicker real soon... I hope that Ben and Zooey are happy, but I'm also slightly worried that Ben's newfound happiness will change the doom and gloom we've all come to know and love Death Cab for into songs about puppy dogs and rainbows... lets hope not! Peace to all Death Cab fans, and god bless this beautiful group of guys for making such essential, kickass music.
 Not their best Jun 28, 2010
Overall this album was, in my opinion, not as well-crafted as their previous albums Plans or Transatlanticism.
For me, this is the "introduction" Feb 22, 2010
Always heard the name, never heard the band.
Is this like yourself? You are intrigued by the band, that supposedly is greatness, but you don't think you are hip enough to listen? Have no fear. Buy this album and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the number of listens you will give it. While I test drove this album, I was skeptical. Is it too soft for a fan of the Editors and Interpol? Is there any "crunch" to the guitars to give it teeth? Will I be viewed as a wanna be indie guy for picking this up and touting it to my friends? These are the questions that rang through my gray matter.
As the dust settled, I knew one thing: This album latches on and pulls at all emotions. Happy, sad, lonely, desperate- all of these emotions and many more play out when listening.
Buy it. You won't regret it. Casually fall in love with it. Now I am onto Plans next. We will see which direction I take on that album.
0 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Boredom barnburner Feb 15, 2010
Oh, how I hate you, Death Cab for Cutie. First of all, I hate your cutesy Bonzo Dog name. I hate your album cover, the way it attempts to be a criticism of our pixel-mad culture, its much ado about meaninglessness. Living in the beneath-culture slagheap, beating against your "chests" with barbells. I hate how dreamy your sissy-boy voice is, Benjamin. I love how greasy children drip chocolate ice cream all over your T-shirts at the putt-putt course.
But, then, hate is just a hopskip away from love, and you have to have actual feelings to worry for very long about either, I suppose. Grab the devil and the angel off your shoulders and squish them together in your hands like you're making a mudpie. I'm getting that floaty feeling again, like David Bowie's trying to mindmeld with me while standing in line at Jamba Juice. Blood tunnels to the engine; little things grow ugly up close and I'm revisiting my youth, pardon me. I'm bug-eyed, splintery fingers working the keys like crabs writhing, but rooted in place.
I write better when I'm upset, but I'm finding it hard to stay angry while floating to nowhere in particular on this white cheddar-flavored cloud. Great, I'll probably be a devout follower of A Prairie Home Companion soon.
Stairway To Heaven Dec 04, 2009
For all their reputation as sensitive emo-types mooning over teen-angst TV shows, the 2008 release from Death Cab For Cutie is almost anything but that stereotype. While the songs here follow Cab Leader Ben Gibbard through his lyrical trials of broken relationships ("Your New Twin Sized Bed") and the girl that got away ("Cath"), the trickier parts of "Narrow Stairs" have so many other things going for it. This is a climb into a dark room, and a very effective one.
The most affected sign of this is the long, obtuse "I Will Possess Your Heart." A near paranoid rant about getting you whether you like it or not (also see "Every Breath You Take") builds to the first verse after more than four minutes of tense instrumental buildup. I'm not claiming DCfC are the new Yes, but this is bordering on prog-rock territory.
I'm also more than inclined to like "Grapevine Fires," a folkish tale of watching the western forest fires in both fear and awe, marveling at nature's force and the nature of love.
"We bought some wine and some paper cups
Near your daughters school when we picked her up
And drove to a cemetery on a hill, On a hill
And we watched the plumes paint the sky gray
But she laughed and danced through the field of graves
And there I knew it would be alright."
Gibbard is stretching himself lyrically through "Narrow Stairs," and unlike Plans, he's shooting for something other than frothy angst flavored milkshakes. It makes this CD their best yet.
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