I’m Sorry Ben Gibbard

There comes a time in every man’s life where he must admit that he was wrong. It’s not easy, but it’s certainly necessary for him to right the wrongs he’s committed. To simply allow this injustice to remain unchecked would be self-centered and deplorable. Concordantly, THIS is one of those times. So without further adieu, I concede my apology.

Ben Gibbard, I’m sorry I gave Narrow Stairs a 3/5 when it deserves 4.5/5.

Let me explain myself here: As those who follow this blog already know, I chalk Transatlanticism up to insane proportions. It’s one of the few albums that I consider to be perfect in every respect. And as stated my review, my anticipation for Narrow Stairs was incredibly high at the time of its release. However, 7 months later I’m willing to concede that I believe I misjudged an album seeped in subtly that I was not ready to explore.

Perhaps it’s the fact that I’m in the thick of Chuck Klosterman IV at the moment, but Death Cab For Cutie have made an album I was not “advanced” enough to deal with at the time. Where I expected crisp immediacy in audio production, I was given murky and thick soundscapes to absorb. Where I expected coy twisting metaphors, I was treated concise statements with deceptive double meanings. Mr. Gibbard and the rest of his musical Cab challenge my notion of what their band was about, and I didn’t get it in May.

Where I expected an album that had a small ray of hope, I received an album born and steeped in darkness.

While Transatlanticism reminisced about cinematic memories to hold on to, and Plans looked towards an ideal future, Narrow Stairs is an album about decay. Every song on here is about death, loss, and frailty, whether it’s the claustrophobic juggernaut “I Will Possess Your Heart” or the wistful melancholy of “Cath…” While guitarist Chris Walla told fans that this album would have teeth, he failed to mention that they had hidden the fangs so innocuously.

I suppose one could argue that the album “grew on me,” but I’d say that’s a bit simplistic. When I listen to Narrow Stairs now, I hear things that I did not before. There is a tension to these songs, a fear in Gibbard’s voice as he sweetly sings about futility on tracks like “Talking Bird.” Elsewhere, “Grapevine Fires’” somber vocal work seems to melt like the hopes of those so close to the blaze it describes.

For such a bleak album, it certainly has a pop accessibility to it.

And repeated listens are warranted to truly understand the production techniques that Chris Walla implemented. As I said in my review, there is a wall of sound quality to much of Narrow Stairs, but the beauty in Walla’s production is how effortlessly he brings in these abstract sounds and how seamlessly he fades them out. It represents the fleeting feel of these tracks, never really allowing listeners to grasp them concretely before they are gone, but instead teasing them with quickness. Simply put, the songs on here certainly ebb and flow with dramatic rises and falls and the production certainly suits that.

In the end, I wanted Narrow Stairs to be an album that I could easily understand, and it’s not. Since then, I’ve come to understand that I need to work at deconstructing this interesting piece of music, rather than waiting for Death Cab For Cutie to spoon feed me something close to what I expected. In short, I’ve got to grow to their level and apologies are a good first step since they are ALL about growth.

So for that Ben Gibbard, I’m sorry.

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.