Track Listing

1. Bixby Canyon Bridge
2. I Will Possess Your Heart
3. No Sunlight
4. Cath…
5. Talking Bird
6. You Can Do Better Than Me
7. Grapevine Fires
8. Your New Twin Sized Bed
9. Long Division
10. Pity And Fear
11. The Ice Is Getting Thinner

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54 in Music
• Released on: 2008-05-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
After relentless touring, performances on Saturday Night Live, and appearing on the cover of Spin and Paste Magazines, Death Cab for Cutie brings us Narrow Stairs. Following up their DVD collection, Directions, which sold over 30,000 copies and their platinum selling album, Plans, was no easy task but Narrow Stairs has already been praised by MTV.com as the band’s most daring and adventurous effort to date.

Amazon.co.uk
Narrow Stairs might be the first album recorded by Death Cab for Cutie since Ben Gibbard's former solo project went unexpectedly stratospheric, but Gibbard hasn't let it go to his head. Oh, OK, maybe a little: lead-off single "I Will Possess Your Heart" is an eight minute jam that speeds off on one long, luminous curve before Gibbard's distinctive vocals swing in, sweet and plaintive as ever. Even when indulging their grander visions, though, Death Cab for Cutie are still familiar as the same band that wrote those fragile, winsome songs back before teen drama The OC came knocking. Never knowingly overstated, built from driving rhythms, flourishes of piano and intricate melodies, Narrow Stairs builds grand, emotionally loaded narratives from small, subtle parts. "Your New Twin Sized Bed" hides a deftly articulated tale of heartbreak and loneliness amidst soothing tangles of guitar, while "You Can Do Better than Me" is a sweet miniature that's part Pet Sounds orchestration, part wistful Dear John. This isn't, as Gibbard would previously hint, a dissonant or especially adventurous album. It proves, however, that Death Cab can extend their scope without diluting the pathos or energy of their music, and it not only sounds great, but bodes well for the future. --Louis Pattison

Amazon.com
If I were in a band, Chris Walla would produce my album. The knob-turning guitar virtuoso of Death Cab For Cutie has finally executed for his very own band what we’ve been waiting for: a project that makes the Seattle foursome’s true sound come across on record. More poised and powerful than any in its six-album catalog, Narrow Stairs transmits the group out of the studio and into your living room. Songwriter Ben Gibbard--who never fails to lay his unembroidered heart on the line--wastes no time with the confident single "I Will Possess Your Heart." Over a throbbing bass line and a minute-plus instrumental lead-in, Gibbard pleads, "You’ve gotta spend some time with me/And I know that you’ll find love/I will possess your heart." The first of a half-dozen songs with hit potential, (see the melancholy summer songs "No Sunlight" and "Cath," or the self-effacing "You Can Do Better Than Me," with its Beach Boys buoyancy.) "Possess" is an earnest juxtaposition to a pair of go-your-own-way tracks found later on the disc. Gibbard paints a love-crushed portrait in "Your New Twin-Sized Bed," ("I guess you decided/That queen was more space than you’d ever need"), and "The Ice Is Getting Thinner," ("The seasons have changed/And so have we.") By themselves, the lyrics are sheer poetry. But backed by the wits, boldness, and sway of this splendid band, Narrow Stairs just may become a landmark record.--Scott Holter

Customer Reviews

the best!
As a fan from the "Something about Airplanes" days, I have no problem labeling this the best Death Cab album yet. I was a bit worried after the post-Plans emo-crush on lead singer Ben.. and the breathy vocals he would exhibit on random love-lorn covers and tv appearences.. but this album is totally a masterpiece. I usually start with "You Can Do Better than Me" and my favorite song on the album, "Grapevine Fires." Then I start back from the beginning. The album might be a grower and not as big as "Plans" because their lead single has a 4.5 minute intro that some of the teenybopper fans don't want to sit through, but it's a solid album. Put it on in the background. One day you'll be hooked and realize they've surely outdone themselves here.

Grows on you, one bad track
At first I thought this cd was a step back from previous efforts from Death Cab, but after a while it grows on you. Many of the songs run together very well, and I can say that after I removed "I will possess your heart," the quality of the cd went up 10 fold for me personally. After Bixby leaves you just wanting another great song, you're put into the boring and tedious 2nd track. It feels more like a secret type song that is put 5 minutes of silence past the last track.

Just got Better...
Transatlanticism. Wow! Masterpiece! I've never heard a better indie album! It is surely untoppable!
Then Plans comes along. Full of insanely awesome, yet very discreet hooks, and pitch-perfect songwriting, it was a sad affair that nearly beat out Transatlanticism.
Then comes Narrow Stairs with its unexpectedly artsy fartsy lead single "...Possess Your Heart", and was clear that Death Cab had reinvented their own personal musical wheel.
Let's get one thing clear, I really only love about half of the album. "Bixby Canyon Bridge" has all been done before, "No Sunlight" seems almost like self-mockery, and "Pity and Fear" and "The Ice is Getting Thinner" are just flatout boring. And "You Can Do Better Than Me" is meant to be a joke, right? Ha ha.
Anyways, now for the songs that will be playing in my mind until I am an old decrepit geezer. "Cath..." has the best blues influence you'll likely ever find on ANY indie album, and it is also the track that has been generating the most steam. Best of all, I HATED this song the first few times I heard it. Then something happened, I think I payed greater attention to the guitar, which made the song for me.
"Long Division" is absolutely one of the catchiest songs I've ever heard. But catchiness doesn't matter. A guitar riff that starts on the half rest, plodding its way through a song that it feels like it doesn't even belong in, like an Ewok at a Cannibal Corpse concert. Okay, bad analogy. But it doesn't feel right, but yet it's awesome. An amazing tune.
And for my favorite song of 2008, at least until Underoath comes back around, is "Grapevine Fires" Oh, geez, what a SONG!! I swear I cried when I heard it. You will too. It has the most hauntingly off-kilter and beautiful melody just about ever, and it will never leave my mind. A great way to cap off my freshman year of college. This song made 2008 for me so far. The lyrics obviously pertaining to the Governator's wildfire crisis, are so down to earth and warming it feels like the song is actually conversing with you. Amazing!
Many people have disliked this album. Yes, it has flaws. Some parts are Death Cab or perhaps even all of indie rock at their most mature, while others are just silly. But the four or five good songs on the album warrant it a classic, they really are that good. I'm pretty sure every Death Cab fan in the world has heard this album by now, but if new to the band, it's not a bad place to start, even if after it the other albums sound like a transgression.