Album Review: Narrow Stairs
In about twenty years, if someone were to go back and hold up two albums, both 2000’s We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes and this year’s Narrow Stairs, the only similarity between the two would be Ben Gibbard’s shattered, soulful vocals, despite being under the same moniker. Arguably this is a good thing. Bands need to evolve, if not for the fans, then for themselves, the musicians, who desire that evolution in sound.
Three years have passed since 2005’s Plans, very likely the band’s finest, most consistent work yet. Around the time of its release, Gibbard had been dealing with the “better late than never” fanaticism of his side project The Postal Service (which I’m sure he’s written Zach Braff a thank you note for), while also coping with the idea that his band, Death Cab for Cutie, was heading towards open waters, leaving behind the struggling days as a small, independent act. Today, the Pacific Northwestern quartet continues to climb and the name of its current album mirrors this endless endeavor.
It’s clear at this point that both Gibbard and guitarist Chris Walla know how to write a hook or two. “Soul Meets Body”, “The Sound of Settling”, “Styrofoam Plates”, or even “Such Great Heights” didn’t just pop out of thin air. These are songs bred in rhythm and saturated in rich melodies. Each song off of Narrow Stairs capitalizes on this successful chemistry, only now its continuing that epic feeling which birthed in Plans.
This much is obvious by the first two tracks, the adventurous “Bixby Canyon Bridge” and the lengthy single “I Will Possess Your Heart.” In the former, there’s the signature glassy vocals of Gibbard, who rides on his Kerouac obsession, which has him finding lost souls in his own metaphorical desert. The instrumentation is tricky, too. Instead of the distortion winding down, it spirals up, out of control, almost shoegaze like, and when it ages to a soft purr, Gibbard returns to haunt us with lyrics, “Then it started getting dark/ trudged back to where the car was parked/ you’re closer to any kind of truth/ as I must assume is the case with you.” (Think of the ending to Wilco’s “I’m Trying to Break Your Heart” and you’ll have somewhat of an idea where I’m coming from.) Before there’s a place to breathe, the eight minute opus of “I Will Possess Your Heart” climb flips the tables on its listeners, where the romantic angst becomes scary and anemic.
Almost like a smack to the head, “No Sunlight” culls in some bright pop rock and runs off with it. The catchy chorus of “No sunlight, no sunlight” that’s followed by a driving bridge skates on brittle drum beats, thanks much to Jason McGerr, seamlessly changing to the next track, “Cath…”. These two songs represent a sweet, lofty yet tangy flavor to an otherwise mature, self conscious album.
“Talking Bird” will no doubt hear applause from fans of the band’s earlier work, more specifically 2001’s The Photo Album. Its slow burn and haunting droll (”It’s hard/to see/ your way out”) continues on in “You Can Do Better Than Me”, which sounds like a morphine induced version of Del Shannon’s “Runaway.” Whether or not this meditative middle represents the core heart of the album is arguable, but the pace is noticeably different than the more energetic bookends of Narrow Stairs. While the songs aren’t depressing chokers like earlier works “Little Fury Bugs” or “Lightness”, it just isn’t as motivating as say later songs, the melody driven “Your New Twin Sized Bed” or the punchy run of “Long Division”.
To be blunt, Narrow Stairs represents another bold attempt as the band continues to embrace the idea that their own smarmy drama pop should be less abrasive and grander on a scale both lyrically and instrumentally. If “Pity And Fear”, with its African beats and its steady guitar work that homages Ennio Morricone, doesn’t sell you on this idea, then you might need to aim lower, because this might be the first time the band has been this adventurous. Closing track, “The Ice Is Getting Thinner”, is indicative of Gibbard’s rocky, self loathing lifestyle, exemplified in its unforgiving lyrics (”We’re not the same dear and it seems to me/ There’s no where we can go with nothing underneath”). Musically however, it could be mistaken for “Steadier Footing”, as they both carry that morning after feeling.
Would it be fair to judge the album based on its lyrics? In a way, no. After all, Gibbard isn’t the only member of the band; however, its hard to feel fresh when there are songs still about reigniting romance with someone else or dealing with ill fated conflicts on a day to day basis. Then again, isn’t that why anyone listens to Death Cab for Cutie? There’s a sense of escape and parallelism in our lives that runs its course with Gibbard’s own, even if we’re not venturing into Kerouac caravaning lifestyles and soul searching on our free time.
Now to summarize, Narrow Stairs is another glossy volume of the same self introspective dramedies, which continues Gibbard’s plight in digging deeper than he really has to in life. He should be careful, though, because if one digs too far, they’re likely to strike rock and by then, they’re in too deep.
Fortunately for us, we can just turn it off.
Sound: A-
Lyrics: B
Production: A-
Vocals: B-
Overall: B+
Check Out:
“I Will Possess Your Heart” (via)
Such Great Heights is not an original Ben Gibbard song and the Postal Service version did not appear in Garden State.
Get your facts straight and then start writing reviews.
Such Great Heights is a Gibbard song. He wrote it with the Postal Service. Futhermore, Braff used it in the trailers for Garden State, spawning thousands of Internet threads that asked, “What is that song in the trailer?”
Can I write reviews still?
Russ got PWN’D
/silly internet banter
Poor Russ.
I’m a little shocked you ignored Grapevine Fires. In my opinion it’s the best song on the album, but maybe I shouldn’t be shocked since you called Plans their best work.
Dan, I do enjoy that song. And as far as Plans is concerned, its the bands most accessible and consistent work. The album from beginning to end never goes off on a tangent, at least for me. Transatlanticism is great, but “The Sound of Settling” is just so left field with the rest of the album, that I’m expecting more of that type of vibe. To be honest, their strongest songwriting, I feel, is in We Have The Facts and We’re Voting Yes, but Plans takes that and makes it so epic… and I like that.
Then there’s the emotional attachment with Plans, but I’ll spare you that.
I don’t think that accessibility makes an album good, in fact I think when a band is forced to make themselves accessible to the public they have to abandon the things that made them great in the first place. But I do realize that it is an industry and you have to do what you have to do. Now as for the pure content of Plans, I feel that a lot of it is very decent, but that’s all it ever is, decent. Very few tracks on that album truly stand out to me the way a lot of their early work does. I think that “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”, “What Sarah Said”, and “Crooked Teeth” are tremendous tracks but the rest of the album just cannot match up to those three songs. Now on Transatlanticism I play the entire album straight through every single time. Yes I’ll admit “The Sound Of Settling” is a bit off compared to the rest of the album but “Tiny Vessels”, “We Looked Like Giants” and “Transatlanticism” more than make up for it. I don’t think that Ben Gibbard has written better lyrics than he did on that album, and it was that album that lead them to being signed by a major label. There is just something special about putting on that vinyl and turning the lights down and volume up. Like I said Plans is good, I just don’t think it can measure up to Transatlanticism or Narrow Stairs.
they have to abandon the things that made them great in the first place.>>>
Of course, this isn’t good. However, in certain cases it works. With DCFC, I feel its only expanded their horizons. Much of their early work seems to blend together and only lately have they started achieving that solidarity and exclusivity on each album.
With Plans, I’m concerned with the epic feel. When I first heard material off that album in 2005, I was floored. It took the band to new heights and without that album we wouldn’t have Gibbard and the gang writing eight minute songs, which by the way, I think is good, but also qualifies as too big a chunk for the album itself.
I don’t regularly buy new albums on vinyl, but I’ll have to take your suggestion. Usually with DCFC, I’m listening to them while writing or leaving a girlfriend’s apartment in tears. Haha. As for songwriting, everyone has opinions, but “Little Fury Bugs” and “The Employment Pages” are some of the band’s greatest works, I feel.
Anyways, thanks for commenting… these discussions are the whole reason I love writing on here.
As we’ve been having this discussion I thought I might be missing something so I put Plans on to check, my original opinion still holds but I can see where yours is coming from as well. As for the vinyl, I think that certain bands have sounds that are missed when the sound is sent around the internet, we need to be able to hear what the band heard when they wrote the song, and outside of a concert vinyls feel like the next closest thing. Maybe I just have a special place for Transatlanticism. Regardless of all that this album is fantastic and I believe is a huge step in the right direction and I think everyone should listen to it when they get a chance.
Hey Micheal, Totally agree with your thoughts on plans. I would have also used the term “cohesivness”. The flow of the album from song to song doesn’t make you want to skip one track.
I personally didn’t find Plans that great, after a while. Accessability was obvious, seeing as how I loved the album at first. Slowly but surely however, it stopped amazing me. Granted, I still find it a pretty good listen every once and a while.
I also think that Transatlanticism is their best work, maybe it’s the build up and break down of the songs on it, but I can honestly say Plans can’t compete with it. I also despise how Plans was produced in comparrison to early albums, as well as Narrow Stairs. I think I’ll give it another listen though. I feel that Plans is a little sell-outish as well. Granted, I do have faith enough in the band that they wouldn’t do that. Seeing as how everyone was raving about it, in my part of the U.S at least, a good two years after it came out, I feel that they weren’t selling out.
By the way, I love We Have The Facts as well. It is just as good as Transatlanticism, but maybe just a little worse.
Hmm, that’s interesting, David. See, it was the opposite with me. I was intrigued by “Soul Meets Body” and then the album didn’t pull me on first listen, not to mention I was still left a little sour by their 2005 performance at Lollapalooza, so perhaps that might have something to do with it then. However, the word “cohesive” (to borrow from bobby) is important here. Many of the band’s previous works, I feel, are cluttered, specifically The Photo Album and even Transatlanticism.
But to each his own.
Hey Bobby… “Cardiff Giant.”
Very interesting discussion here. As a rampant fan of DCFC, I’be been anxiously awaiting this album since I first heard of it a few months back. I really liked I Will Possess Your Heart, the off beat tone seemed to me indicative of a larger disinterest with compliance to general “indie” standards and gave off more of a intimate, jam-session type vibe. It’s something I think I could find myself listening to with less frequency than Transatlanticism or Plans but perhaps with more genuine enjoyment.
That being said, I found both Plans and Transatlanticism to be truly awesome albums. Both definitely make it into my top ten. I felt that Transatlanticism was more upfront about its tone, leaving little to interpretation. As a result, I fell in love with the album from the first moment I heard it. I found Plans to be a bit harder to chew, but after my third or fourth time through, I was able to piece together seemingly stand-alone tracks like Soul Meets Body with the general flow of the album. After awhile I had trouble imagining listening to anything better than What Sarah Said/Brothers on a Hotel Bed on repeat.
Looking forward to Narrow Stairs. I’ve resisted the temptation to download it, because I really want to hold this thing in my hands.
Hey Roffman,
-”If this is my per diem, who do I give it to?”
-”You won’t let me into the club but you’ll let fucking ‘Screech’ in?”
-”I think we need guns?”
“It’s a fucking starter pistol! I know because I can see the red plug!”
Funny that you mention The Photo Album because if it’s probably another one of my favorite albums. (I may as well come out and I say I pretty much love all of their albums, they are my second most listen to band, next to Radiohead).
I gave a few tracks from plans a listen, and I have to say they are still pretty good. I’m actually pretty pleased with that because I am seeing them in June in Chicago.
Now I’m getting really excited, although personally, I still hope they skip over most of Plans, and play a lot of transatlanticism.
That album feels better live. I guess it seems like there’s more room to jam them out. (John Byrd EP? Anyone?)
Garden State features Iron and Wines version of Such Great Heights, not Postal Services.
Yes, thank you Colin… I was referring to the trailers. Read the comments.
i respect your opinions but narrow stairs blows plans out of the water.
Stephanie, thanks for posting. However, give Narrow Stairs a few listens… some of it actually starts to tire, unfortunately. Meanwhile, I can still listen away at Plans.
Regardless, we’re all opinionated. And this thread is proof.
I’m coming a little late to this thread, but my vinyl of Narrow Stairs just got here. Outside of a few songs, the album has really yet to grab me in the ways the other ones did. Though, it should be noted that I was an obsessive Death Cab listener at the time of Plans release. While I’ll certainly agree that Plans was cohesive and grabbed me from the first listen, it did start to wear thin over time, and I found myself skipping to certain tracks. Though “Marching Bands of Manhattan” remains possibly one of my favorite songs. Honestly, Something About Airplanes is probably my favorite Death Cab album whereas the production on Plans seemed to bury the charm exuding from their material. Thus, I’m rather a fan of the step-back the production has seemed to take. Obviously, Walla is still working in some heavy layers, but he’s being much less overt about it, never really smuggling the band.
Then again, I may have no say so in music because I’m that one guy that goes on binges of listening solely to Amnesiac for ungodly periods of time (I still get into arguments with friends about that record)
And pardon the posting on a stagnating thread, but it’s 2 am, and my allergies refuse to allow sleep.
No, it’s great Neil. It’s always a good thing to get comments.
I go on binges with music, too. This past week it’s been nothing but Beck’s Mutations again and again.
I went back and re-read your review after listening to the album for pretty much the whole week (along with Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak. Weird combo, right?). Just some random thoughts/agreements/disagreements, etc.:
-I just discovered the Kerouac themes this week (I think after reading Pitchfork or something), and that makes my already favorite track on the album that much cooler. To me, it’s a wonderful thing when a track can take on two different ideas at once without ever overwhelming the listener. The fact that Bixby Canyon Bridge sounds like a frustrated eulogy to a lost lover and an ode to a lost muse is a nice little treat, similar to what Springsteen did with pretty much all of Magic (see Livin In The Future and Long Walk Home). A+ to Gibbard for taking tips from The Boss.
-To me, the only track that suffers from being too adventurous is Pity and Fear. All the branching out makes for one tangled, messy tree. Maybe it’s just me, but with the exception of TV On The Radio, I’ve never been a fan of infusing tribal beats into rock songs. I’m probably the only Simon & Garfunkel fan on the planet who can’t stand Graceland.
-The Ice Is Getting Thinner reminds me of A Comet Appears in a good way. Both are examples of bands who beefed up their instrumentation on their latest outings only to simplify things with the closing track, reminding us of why we were drawn to them in the first place. It settles in our bones. Amen to that.
-As you know, I disagree with you on Plans. I think it’s a very good album, but Transatlanticism really holds it together for me. I can never get through the last few tracks on Plans. Then again, that’s just me. Crooked Teeth and Marching Bands of Manhattan still rank up there with my favorite Death Cab cuts.
-You Can Do Better Than Me sounds like a track off Smiley Smile that actually got finished, but then canned when Smile came out a few years back. Once again, this is a good thing. Yay, baroque pop!
Anyhow, excellent review. I like that you guys review individual components of the album and still give a cohesive grade. It beats Pitchfork’s annoying Dewey Decimal system.
Keep rockin!
Dan
Narrow Stairs and Plans are not their best work,they are more like 2-D processed melody ballods.They are good albums, but Transatlanticism is on a 3-D plane and has a more variety of song structure and emotions.I have seem them twice in the last month and they play more old songs on their set list than new. When they do play new songs their are a million annoying people singing over them.I personally enjoy their old music more when they were single cell organisms not household names and I think they would agree.
Jun 4th, 2008 at 1:38 am
[...] Seattle indie rockers shattered the glum expectations, providing a quaint set list that promoted Narrow Stairs while managing to squeeze in ol’ [...]