Ok. I stand corrected. And I am also one week late with this review.
Simply put, this album is breath-takingly brilliant - only if you take enough time to allow it to be so. (Not so simply put then).
With Narrow Stairs, Death Cab for Cutie give you the impression that they've decided to throw all their toys out of the pram. Dummy as well. There's a lot of noise on this. Good noise, mind you. After the brilliant literary expose of their previous work (see "Transatlanticism" and "Plans" especially for the Death Cab newbies), Ben Gibbard suddenly seems pain-stakingly obvious on this record.
Not that it's a bad thing. This is unlike any Death Cab album you've encountered. So different, in fact, that I dared to not favour it at the beginning. Narrow Stairs is dark, gloomy and mostly bad-tempered. And ill-mannered. It feels like a clump of static banging you from pillar to post - and then some.
The first single, "I Will Possess Your Heart", all 8-and-a-half minutes of it, insidiously worms its way into your head (heart?). For the opening 4 odd minutes, bass, distortion and drums drone on before Ben Gibbard's ice-thin voice cuts through, telling you that despite the long sortie, "you gotta spend more time" with him. Typical stalker-like. Excellent.
The album's opening song, "Bixby Canyon Bridge", is riddled with Jack Kerouac connotations. It details the tale of how Gibbard goes to the cabin where Jack Kerouac wrote Big Sur, hoping to find inspiration and coming up short. His angry riposte to his failing is to admit, rather forlornly, that the dream is lost and to return home, tail between legs. The irony here is excellent, and the combination of the lyrical brilliance and sonic attack on show here makes it one of the stand-out songs of the album.
Perhaps the album's most beautiful piece comes in the form of "Grapevine Fires", where for just one fleeting moment, Gibbard is back to his story-telling best. Written about the California fires last year, the song is lyrically akin to "Passenger Seat" in that the listener somehow finds himself right next to singer as he paints the canvas with his vivid array of watercolour.
Detailing the entire album would just be too much of a feat. Needless to say, there are several fillers, but then again, asking any Death Cab fan to come out with a name of Top 5 DCFC songs is somewhat like calculating permutations for the national lottery. The album does end on a wonderful note in "The Ice is Getting Thinner", as the listener is left wondering: "What next?"
"Styrofoam Plates", "Steadier Footing", "Crooked Teeth", "Death of an Interior Decorator" and "Tiny Vessels". My very own list of Top 5 Death Cab for Cutie songs now needs to find space for some of the gems found on this album.
c
