Death Cab For Cutie- Narrow Stairs (***)

Back in high school, I remember going to Tower Records and picking up Death Cab For Cutie’s Transatlanticism before everyone started hyping up “The Sound of Settling.” And after my first spin of the album, a huge realization hit me.

This album is perfect.

It’s the first time in my life where I every note had its place, every hook fluid and specific, but with the organic air of spontaneity. Consequently, I was excited for their major label follow up, Plans. Seeming to begin where Transatlanticism left off, Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla lead their group through 11 tracks of slickly produced indie-pop that served as a natural progression, but lacked the expansiveness of their previous work.

Naturally, my expectations were high for Narrow Stairs, an album where the group promised fans a more “hard rock” sound than their last offering. And indeed, the band has made good on their promise. Narrow Stairs is decidedly driven by Nick Harmer’s warm and pulsing bass, while augmented by Walla’s ambient to messy guitar playing. And unlike Plans, there is a conscious decision to scale back the use of synthesizers to merely enhance tracks, rather than drive them.

This is all perhaps best illustrated by the opening track, “Bixby Canyon Bridge.” Growing from gently delayed guitars, Gibbard’s voice cuts the air in his signature tenor as the song grows into an elaborate soundscape with pounding drums, a deluge of haunting backing vocals, and foggy feedback. Like many of the songs on Narrow Stairs, it ebbs and flows with the listener, ending messily while retaining its tunefulness.

It appears that the band is preoccupied with creating dense walls of sound on this record, often muddling some of the tracks without giving them a sense of space that ear marked their previous releases.

“Talking Bird” begins with jangley drum lines alongside U2 inspired atmospherics, but the rather dry production causes the sounds bleed together far too much. Subtle piano touches augment Gibbard’s tender croon of, “It’s all here for you/As long as you don’t/Fly away…” but the dynamics between the large, lush swells of music, don’t feel distinct enough from the quieter portions of the track.

Perhaps this is what’s so surprising about Narrow Stairs. That after the great job Walla did producing Death Cab’s last release as well as his own solo album, the production on Narrow Stairs truly hinders some decent melodies. Tracks like “Cath…,” while sporting one of the dirtiest guitar lines on the record, simply hit listeners as opposed to enveloping them into the quirky arrangements.

While the Death Cab For Cutie been able to craft some great, upbeat pop numbers in the past, it’s here where Narrow Stairs fails the most. Production problems aside, the band just seems like they are going through the motions on some of their most concise tracks. Songs like “Long Division” and “No Sunlight” suffer from guitar riffs that blend in the background, with cymbals that lack crispness, and hooks that meander.

If you’re not going to put your best effort into crafting upbeat numbers, simply don’t write them.

But it’s interesting to note that after such a meticulously constructed album like Plans, that the entire band has seemed to react against it on this new material. Gone are many of Gibbard’s memorable hooks and clever metaphors, as well as the eccentric nature of their tightly constructed pop songs. Instead, it’s the epic and atmospheric songs that make up the meat and potatoes of “Narrow Stairs.”

The nearly 9 minute “I Will Possess Your Heart” is the sound of a band firing on all cylinders. It builds from minimalist drums and rich guitar twinklings, as the band adds in smooth keyboards, building the tension. It eventually breaks around the 5 minute mark as Gibbard’s smooth forcefulness takes the reigns. The eerie chorus of “You’ve got to spend some time girl/You’ve got to spend some time/With me…” really grabs listeners by the throat, immediately and viscerally.

The track also illustrates how Death Cab was able to implement their “wall of sound” obsession to it’s full potential, while marrying it with the intricacies of their past work. The sprawling track is a great progression from both the epic qualities that made Transatlanticism so memorable, as well as the attention to detail that permeated Plans.

Ultimately, Narrow Stairs is an easy record to appreciate but an incredibly difficult one to love. While the album shows flashes of brilliance, like the incredibly airy closing track “The Ice Is Getting Thinner,” it feels uneven and at times, a tad sloppy. While there’s no doubt that those who enjoy Death Cab For Cutie will take to at least a few songs on here, many fans might feel slighted by this release.

And at the end of it all, the sounds on Narrow Stairs are simply too narrow in scope for a band that’s capable of much, much more.

Sounds Like: Field Manual (Chris Walla), The Crane Wife (The Decemberists), Figure 8 (Elliott Smith)

Key Cuts: I Will Possess Your Heart, Talking Bird, The Ice Is Getting Thinner

Author's Note: This review appears in a recent issue of the Sonoma State Star. As this is the author's own writing and this is his own blog, in addition to holding the position of A&E Editor for the Sonoma State Star, he posts it here with express consent of himself. Duh.