Narrow Stairs
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Narrow Stairs
At last, Death Cab for Cutie's brand new album has arrived! It has been awhile since I have become so excited about a brand new release, but let's just say that Death Cab for Cutie's Narrow Stairs ranked as high as Coldplay's Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends album. I have been a long time fan of Death Cab for Cutie, and the love for their music began with the very first song I heard from them from the theatrical trailer of Shopgirl, called The Sound of Settling. Anyway, we have come a long way from there indeed, and the band has matured along with the fans as well. It is evident that this album is yet another turning point of sorts for the band, like how The Photo Album was a sort of milestone for them in my opinion. It was a change in the direction of the band, and this album is nothing less in terms of what it stands for in the entire library of Death Cab for Cutie's music.
I Will Possess Your Heart was the first single released to the general public via their Myspace page, and that song alone was a departure from their usual musical style by itself. It still retained a little bit of Plans and Transatlanticism (especially the latter), but you could tell from the very first listen that the band has found a brand new sound for their brand new album. The music arrangement in that song itself reflects what the rest of the album would eventually sound like, and that is a very sophisticated layering of instruments on top of a carefully written melody and lyrics that is trademark of any Death Cab for Cutie album. The lyrics is what attracts me the most for this band, and the band has surpasses themselves all over again with Narrow Stairs. Lyrically, the band has turned to a brighter and darker side of things at the very same time. The lyrics are still very much focused on lost love, lost opportunities, and basically a sense of dread for the most part. But the melodies have the ability to make the listener believe that there is an alternate meaning to things, that the upbeat tone of the album acts very much like an irony to the lyrics. The contrast is beautiful to behold, even just halfway through the album.
Not a lot of people can write lyrics that make me smile like a silly fanboy in front of the computer like Ben Gibbard does, but that is what he did with the songs here. The song Cath has probably some of the saddest and most beautiful lyrics ever written, You Can Do Better Than Me somehow gave me an image of how I'd be like in fifty years' time, lying in bed with a woman whom I have grown out of love with. Death Cab for Cutie almost always has the uncanny ability to take the most ordinary of situations and put them into such beautiful perspectives, and that is evident in the track called Grapevine Fires. I am assuming that the song is about the forest fires in Malibu recently. Even such a topic can become a song full of breathtaking scenics - you'd understand me when you listen to the song itself.
I am going to miss the fact that the band has moved away from songs like What Sarah Said and Passenger Seat, the type of songs that were driven heavily by piano and piano only. Still, the new direction is a breath of fresh air instead. There is little or no trace of acoustic guitar in this album at all, which is a pity because they always do so well with their acoustic tracks somehow. Either way, this album is a step into maturity by the band, as if their previous efforts weren't mature enough to begin with. The album just feels a lot more refined and polished than the previous albums somehow, but that must be because of the large span of time in between the last album and this one. Nonetheless, this whole new Death Cab for Cutie is definitely a step forward with a baggage of nostalgia - which is always good. I'm going off to listen to the album from the beginning again, until the next entry!
Tracklist:
1. Bixby Canyon Bridge (5:15)
2. I Will Possess Your Heart (8:36)
3. No Sunlight (2:40)
4. Cath... (3:50)
5. Talking Bird (3:23)
6. You Can Do Better Than Me (1:59)
7. Grapevine Fires (4:09)
8. Your New Twin Sized Bed (3:06)
9. Long Division (3:50)
10. Pity And Fear (4:21)
11. The Ice is Getting Thinner (3:45)
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