RECORD REVIEWS
Death Cab for Cutie —Narrow Stairs
{Atlantic, Barsuk}
A couple winters ago I was home in Seattle, visiting for the holidays. One evening I headed down to the Crocodile to take in a leisurely Long Winters set. Josh Rosenfeld, president of Barsuk Records, was there, and we chatted briefly about favorite Death Cab for Cutie records, the band having left their home at Barsuk for Atlantic during the last year.
We came around to talking about Plans, which had just been released a few months before. I made a face and said I wished the band the best of luck, but I didn’t think it came close to Transatlanticism. I have a theory about Death Cab’s records, I told him. They take a record to figure things out, and then on the next one they get it right. Something About Airplanes was the record they had to make to figure out We Have The Facts And We’re Voting Yes. They had to make The Photo Album to get to Transatlanticism.
I believed Plans was just another transition record. Whatever came next would be their best yet.
Not the case.
I’ve been listening to the pre-release stream of Narrow Stairs more or less incessantly for the past week, and I’ve yet to find the thread connecting these songs together as an album. Whereas Transatlanticism bled together almost seamlessly, losing momentum only in the filler track, “Death of an Interior Decorator,” the songwriting on Narrow Stairs feels disjointed and incomplete, a record composed entirely of filler tracks. It’s as though Ben Gibbard, when he retreated to Jack Kerouac’s cabin at Big Sur to write the songs, spent too much time hiking and found himself suddenly pushed up against a deadline.
The first track, “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” deceives us into believing the rest of the album will be just as good. After an arpeggiated, classic Death Cab guitar opening, the distortion kicks in and announces this new, rockier sound we assume will be carried through on the rest of the record. But they only make good on this claim twice more: with “Cath…” (easily the record’s stand-out track), and “Pity and Fear,” which finally brings a return to the kind of building guitar rock they hinted at with their 2004 contribution to the Future Soundtrack of America compilation, “This Temporary Life.”
I’ll hand it to Chris Walla—this production lacks nothing. Sonically, Narrow Stairs sounds fantastic, and the rhythm section of Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr play as well as they ever have. It’s Gibbard who seems to drop the ball. For a songwriter known and loved as much for his lyrics as melodies, the words never reach the level that, frankly, his listeners have come to expect. Gibbard relies on easy metaphors—thinning ice as a symbol of a failing relationship (“The Ice is Getting Thinner”), sunlight standing for unattainable past happiness (“No Sunlight”), and impending California wildfires bringing with them impending “burns” (“Grapevine Fires”).
On the aptly titled “You Can Do Better Than Me” Gibbard takes a just-say-it-straight approach: “You can do better than me, but I can’t do better than you,” accompanied by a full orchestra that’s absent from the rest of the record, making its presence here seem nothing but two minutes of cheap kitsch that leaves you wondering, “What the hell was that?”
And let’s be honest about the single “I Will Possess Your Heart”: “You gotta spend some time, love” can’t hold up the weight of an eight-minute tune like “I need you so much closer” could (and did).
Narrow Stairs does hit the target a couple times. But these moments seem more or less unrelated, and thus the moments of transcendence come off as almost accidental. As said above, “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” “Cath…,” and “Pity And Fear” excel above the rest, and those three alone justify the purchase of the record. Lower your expectations just a little, and “Your New Twin Sized Bed” will serve nicely as a summer driving tune (and likely the second or third single). It would have fit in nicely on Plans, in fact. Likewise, “Long Division” plays as an attempt to recreate the sing-along fun of “The Sound of Settling”’s “bah bah” refrain with “oh oh oh” and “to be a remain-, remain-, remainder!” But you know what? It is fun!
The problem with Narrow Stairs rests in the expectations we’ve come to have for Death Cab for Cutie. This record will not discredit their reputation as an excellent rock band, and it puts forth three great candidates for a future Greatest Hits compilation, which can’t be too many years away. But three out of eleven? Perhaps Death Cab’s reached that point that most excellent bands eventually reach after six albums, where fans are going to have to settle for them batting under .300 from now on.
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Joseph Riippi said on May 13, 2008:
Thank goodness! I was terrified i'd be getting hate mail...
You know, Gibbard cites "epilogue" as his favorite DC tune as well. Personally, I don't know, I think it's "405" for me. And, sadistically, I've seen them maybe 20 times and NEVER HEARD IT LIVE. It's killing me. In any case, seeing them out in Brooklyn in a few weeks, maybe they'll make it happen. But so help me if they play "Talking Bird" instead....
Thanks for the kind words.
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Diana S said on May 13, 2008:
I've only heard 4 of the songs off the album so far, but I think i'm going to pick it up today anyway, just because I have every single one of their previous albums. But that sounds terrible -- 3 songs out of 11? Bleh. I have to agree with you on "I Will Possess Your Heart." Though I do like Talking Bird. Did you really think Photo Album wasn't as good as Transatlanticism?
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Joseph Riippi said on May 13, 2008:
I think Photo Album is excellent. But it was a stepping stone to Transatlanticism, which, yes, is the better record.
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Chris Estey said on May 13, 2008:
I love the opening narrative to this review. For one, it shows the kind of guy Josh at Barsuk is -- when I interviewed him for Seattle Sound (#1! In comic books that would mean something!) he gave me oodles of wonderful, insightful conversation; not unlike your own side with him about the transitional nature of alternating Death Cab albums. And I always love it when a sharp critic like you Joe explains why their theories don't necessarily work out; those theories are great fun, though, and like with my rediscovering Cohen last week, we can get challenged by artists when we least expect it. Or, perhaps in Death Cab's case, finding the material unchallenging.
"Spent too much time hiking and found himself pushed up against the deadline ..." I bet it's probably very scary how close that guess is, knowing writers ... ha!
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imaginary stella said on May 13, 2008:
Admittedly, I've only heard the full album once, end to end. But I echo the love for "Cath." What struck me about that track is how old it feels - in a great way. It sounds like a long lost item from the early DC days!
And I really do love the single, much to my initial chagrin. But you hit the nail on the head with the comparison to "Transatlanticism," Joe! That song ceaselessly gives me chills. For all the momentum created in "Possess," the lyrics are anti-climactic. And yeah, I really felt let down by the words to "You Can Do Better Than Me." Show, don't tell, Ben!
Great review!
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Joseph Riippi said on May 13, 2008:
The Daytrotter version of "Cath..." is pretty nice as well. Looking forward to seeing it live. I saw "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" at a Gibbard solo show here last year, and he did it on piano, which was lovely. Here though it's, well, thin.
I'm curious what people think the next single will be. "Cath..."? Something tells me the safe marketing move is "Long Division."
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Joseph Riippi said on May 13, 2008:
It's a good song, I like it a lot. The tablas really sell it. It's really huge, arena rock. Death Cab does Coldplay or Arcade Fire or something.
But it's completely out of place on this record.
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wow said on May 13, 2008:
gibbard's singing on cath sounds just like band of horses. weird.
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Jon Harthun said on May 14, 2008:
You guys should try and snag the iTunes demos for this album.
The demo for "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" is the piano version Ben was doing on his solo tour. There's also a demo version of "No Sunlight" which is kind of Posies-ish compared to how it is now, a Jimmy Eat World track.
And of course there's the radio version of "IWPYH" which will probably replace it's 8-minute predecessor when I burn a copy for my car. Why wait 5+ minutes to hear a pop song when you can have it right away.
As mentioned before, I'm extremely smitten with "Cath". I don't know what it is, but I love love love the way he sings "in a hand-me-down wed-ding dress". It's my favorite part of the entire album.
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Mad Dog said on May 14, 2008:
Wow, I must be totally crazy. Yeah, those people were right about me. Because I think Plans is one of the best albums that I have ever heard and I play it all the time. And why defend "Crooked Teeth"? It's a great song!
I also own all their other albums and EPS and really like Photo Album and ...Airplanes too. Does ANYONE else think that Transatlanticism is their weakest?
Now back to my lonely planet.
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imaginary liz said on May 14, 2008:
MD - I'm on a lonely planet too, You Can Play These Songs With Chords is my fav DCFC album.
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Joseph Riippi said on May 14, 2008:
Well, Prove My Hypotheses is probably one of their best songs, Liz, as is Army Corps of Architects, so I'm all about YCPTSWC. The Prove my Hypotheses / Wait (Secret Stars Cover) 7" was one of my best purchases.
MD: Even if we disagree on which albums, at least we agree that they're still an awesome band.
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imaginaryin said on May 14, 2008:
nicely written review, and i couldn't agree more. i was hoping the gin blossomish arc they began with plans would correct itself, but alas hey jealousy.
i can't help thinking that, like some other bands, they've almost become TOO good. i miss nathan's drumming and the production value of We Have the Facts...
the songs seem pretty flat lyrically and emotionally. kerouacs cabin, great, i think a studio apt in bellingham would have been the better reconnective retreat.
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Jon Harthun said on May 14, 2008:
In terms of Plans-era tracks, am I the only one who thinks "Jealousy Rides With Me" blows recent Death Cab(last two albums), save "Cath", away? I really wish that was a B-side that got more attention.
I think YCPTSWC has the better version of "Song For Kelly Huckaby" by the way.
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keenan said on May 15, 2008:
Just finished my first listen of Narrow Stairs, and I have to say, I'm really impressed. There wasn't a single cringe worthy moment (something I've found with both Transatlanticism and Plans) and "No Sunlight" and "Long Division" are both pretty incredible.
And what's all this hate with the Photo Album?
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John in Ballard said on May 16, 2008:
I am a fan on DCFC but I haven't bought this album yet for 1 reason. It's overpriced! I only went to Easy Street, where it's something like $15 (and that's the SALE price). Sonic Boom has it online for the same price. Now I don't blame the record stores, because if I remember correctly when Transatlanticism and Photo album and all the ones previous to that came out they were a much more reasonable price, probably something closer to $10.
It's not that I can't afford a $15 cd, but I choose not to pay that much on principle. It feels like I'm just giving that extra $5 straight to Atlantic records.
I feel even better about not having the record now that it sounds like it's just pretty good, not great. Does anyone else feel this way? Am I the only one who has issues shelling out $15 for a cd that's just a new release and not an import or something hard to find?
Maybe they'll have them for sale at Sasquatch for a reasonable price and I can pick one up there.
I agree about Cath though, I have that downloaded from the Daytrotter session and that's a nice song.
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Erik Gonzalez said on May 16, 2008:
I got it for $9.99 at Dimple Records here in Davis ... I guess they assume you Seattlites will overpay for Death Cab.
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imaginary stella said on May 16, 2008:
I'm sure I'm going to get hate mail for this, but I bet you can buy it for cheap at a big-box like Best Buy... They usually have new releases for under 10 bones for the first week they're out.
(Shore 'nuff, I just checked their website and they list it at 9.99. You could pick up a nice new toaster and washer/dryer set while you're there, too.)
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Jon Harthun said on May 16, 2008:
I'm not going to lie, Best Buy is truly the best buy when it comes to newly released "indie" CDs. Target can be good, too. And, c'mon, more of us shop at Target than we'd like to admit anyway.
Get some bath towels, some candles, some socks, and hey, a Death Cab CD.
I sort of want this on vinyl just to appreciate Walla's production to it's fullest potential. I've been told Plans on vinyl is a good way to do such things too, regardless of, you know, the whole mostly shitty songs factor.
One question for all: I am 100% positive Ben mentioned multiple times that Dave Bazan AND John Roderick were going to be on Narrow Stairs. If they are, it's subtle. "Long Division" is pretty Long Winters-y (my mind is convincing me Chris's bg's are actually John), and "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" is pretty Pedro the Lion, but overall, nothing reeeally stands out. Can you guys help me out?
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tanmay said on May 16, 2008:
i don't agree with your review completely - i do agree that the alternating albums serve that progressing purpose... but i think stairs is good... though, i'll give you that it doesnt sound like an album from the get go - the way that trans just flowed like one piece of music... narrow stairs only feels like that once i heard it about three or four times... i think the writing is spectacular - ben should be allowed to change the way he writes, in fact even as Cath sounds like old-era DCfC, the writing of the narrative can't really find a place on any old records... anyhow, nice review. can't agree with you completely..
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ChrisB said on May 16, 2008:
...and guess what's going to be the number one record in all of the land.
http://idolator.com/391212/what-will-death-cab-have-to-be-sad-about-now
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Reviews
Jon Harthun said on May 13, 2008:
I was dieing to do a review of this, but you beat me to it when calling dibs.
That being said...
I think we feel exactly the same way entirely. I really think not much different would've been said had I wrote it.
"Cath" is by far my favorite. The lyrics are Gibbard's best since tracks off Trans, if not earlier. Maybe I'm so partial to it because "Epilogue" is my favorite Death Cab song, and it's essentially Epilogue part deux.
It's funny. Death Cab For Cutie is, by definition, my favorite band. That being said, I never admit this to many people in order to avoid any and all Plans-related conversations. It's the same reason, as much as I'd love to, why I'd never get a Death Cab tattoo. I rather not spend hours justifying "Crooked Teeth" in relation to my inked up arm.
I'm really pleased with this review, and glad you did so well at it!
I'm sure as hell we could probably spend hours chatting it up about Death Cab.