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Album Review - Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Reviewed by: Jeb Gavin
Music Assistant / Staff Reporter
Bob 177 - The New Rock Alternative
Album Review - Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
2008 Atlantic Records
Listening to Death Cab For Cutie’s latest release, Narrow Stairs, my first reaction is to marvel at the aural space they manage to incorporate, without pushing their self defined boundaries. If you were to corner some disheveled musicologist in a record store, they would happily pontificate on end that the stake claimed by a new artist’s debut album, no matter how rough, will always be better than that same artist simply trying to reuse the sonic niche they’ve carved. However, Narrow Stairs lends credence to the argument that when musicians choose to exploit what comes naturally and draw from new dimensions in the same space, the result is essentially greater than all previous efforts. A caelo usque ad centrum; without breaking new ground, Chris Walla, Ben Gibbard, Jason McGerr and Nick Harmer better use their resources to create a beautiful album.
The usual themes found in Death Cab albums are present. Like previous albums, there is a decided upon location (apparently this time it is California). True to form, the lyrics extrapolate complex relationships from inanimate objects, and extended metaphors sprawl like an ingenious though lackadaisical train of thought. Even the cornerstone juxtaposition of pleasant, sometimes even light melodies with dark, troubled lyrics (or sweetly mournful lyrics with more sinister sounds) is out in full force.
Emotionally, the songs on Narrow Stairs all seem to highlight a particular aspect of relationships. Previous album themes include death, the loss of meaning, or dissatisfaction with the choices we make in relationships. This time around, the focus is on missed opportunities. Most of the songs feature some aspect of remorse over missing the opportune moment to exempt oneself from pointless relationship, or the failure to realize we can and should leave. Some songs, like “You Can Do Better Than Me” and “The Ice Is Getting Thinner” (on which Gibbard sounds like Ted Leo’s nerdy little brother) make explicit the point: we should have ended this relationship some time ago, but now all we can do is look back on a time when it would not have been too painful. The album’s first single, “I Will Possess Your Heart” takes the position of a stalker, building up his case both sonically and literally for why the subject of his desire has missed so many chances for happiness. Later, “Cath…” looks at the same relationship, this time with lament rather than sinister desire. “No Sunlight” and “Your Twin Sized Bed” lament the loss of optimism and the possibility of a normal relationship.
Sonically, the album is more vigorous than its predecessors. The music is no longer afraid to bleed into the lyrics, and pianos are used as much as the bass and drums as a rhythmic element. Chris Walla’s use of emotional sonic dissonance rarely fails to evoke the proper visceral response, so the droning organs and overdriven guitars on Narrow Stairs act as broad blocks, with the patterned lyrics and percussion, each element jockeying for position in the continuity, always progressing. The music rarely changes tone or type; there are no orchestral landscapes or subtle southern rock interludes. Death Cab instead succeeds in creating its strongest album to date by turning inward, and strengthening the sounds and emotions for which their records are known.