No Wheelchair Ramps

Oh yes. The new Death Cab for Cutie album finally arrives in stores today. Lots of anticipation surrounding this, and the record was surprisingly un-leaky in that it only started floating around the internet very recently. Now that I've been living with it for a small amount of time, I might as well weigh in.

My love affair with Death Cab for Cutie started with "The Photo Album" and continues to this day, though I'll readily admit I'm not as "jazzed" about them as I used to be (see: me calling them "one of the best indie bands ever" circa 2001 after hearing "The Photo Album"). Somewhere along the line the music started to feel almost predictable, despite the ever-great lyrical prowess of Ben Gibbard. There was a "Death Cab sound" that sort of defined the band and kept them in lock-step through their last record.

Now we have "Narrow Stairs," and we've been primed to expect an album by the band that's more experimental and markedly different from their past releases. Certainly the album's first single "I Will Possess Your Heart," in all of its eight minute glory, was supposed to tell us that something had changed. Why then, do I continue to feel that the so-called changes that are being touted are nothing more than surface deep? I listen to "Narrow Stairs" and think of a beat-up old car that's now sporting a new paint job - it may look fresh on the outside, but it's still going to run the same way as before.

That may sound like a less-than-thinly-veiled insult, but I want to make it clear that I have tons of respect for Death Cab. "Plans" was slightly less my cup of tea than the magnificent "Transatlanticism" or "The Photo Album" was, but for a major label debut it was a whole tier above most others in that same situation. "Narrow Stairs" follows in that tradition, albeit with one of those slight tweaks I mentioned. The sound is darker. Ben Gibbard may be clinically depressed. Even the songs that sound light and poppy have dark lyrical undertones. Instrumentally, despite what that extended single might indicate, there's not a ton of surprises compared to past Death Cab efforts. It's about different enough to be noticeable, but in no way will it throw off previously existing fans of the band, though it may not make them new ones.

So. Compared to, say, "Plans," I think that "Narrow Stairs" fares better, if only because it adds some tweaks to the Death Cab catalogue we haven't necessarily heard before. But it's also no "Transatlanticism." Still, this is a very good album and one I plan on listening to for quite some time into the future. After all, it's not like Death Cab for Cutie's music is a difficult pill to swallow. Go buy this record and hopefully you'll find some delight amidst much of the lyrical (but nevertheless creative) sadness that Ben Gibbard is able to turn out this time.And where's my second Postal Service album already!

P.S.- I sorta ignored the first couple DCFC albums on purpose, because while they showed plenty of promise, I think the band actually hit their stride with "The Photo Album." This is just me acknowledging those albums exist and that they're also decent, just not quite as good as the others.

Death Cab for Cutie- Your New Twin-Sized Bed

Buy "Narrow Stairs" from Amazon

Labels: Death Cab for Cutie