Narrow Stairs

Untitled

Narrow Stairs is the sixth studio album by rock band Death Cab for Cutie. It will be released on May 12, 2008 in the United Kingdom and May 13, 2008 in the United States.

In October 2007, Chris Walla said that Death Cab for Cutie's new album is "in full swing; we're six songs in." He went on to say "thus far it's pretty weird and pretty spectacular; lots of blood. It's creepy and heavy... we've got a ten minute long Can jam, and had you suggested that possibility to me in 1998, I'd have eaten your puppy's brain with a spoon."

Ben Gibbard, lead singer and guitarist, commented, "I just don't feel like we really have anything to prove of it other than to ourselves and to making a record we really enjoy."

In a recent Billboard piece, the band is promising a "curve ball" and though it will have a number of slower songs, the band is promising some surprises: "It's really weird. It's really, really good, I think, but it's totally a curve ball, and I think it's gonna be a really polarizing record. But I'm really excited about it. It's really got some teeth. The landscape of the thing is way, way more lunar than the urban meadow sort of thing that has been happening for the last couple of records." "[It's also] louder and more dissonant and ... I think abrasive would be a good word to use. [We were influenced by] heavy, sludgy, slow metal [and] synth-punk band Brainiac."

"I Will Possess Your Heart" was scheduled for radio play on March 24, 2008, however, on March 18, 2008, Rhode Island radio 95.5 WBRU was the first station in the United States to play the full eight minute song, and the band released the single on their MySpace page shortly thereafter.

Apple's iTunes music store opened pre-orders for the album on March 19, 2008.

On March 31, a fake version of the album was "leaked" on a music blog and spread to various torrent sites as an April Fool's prank with only "I Will Possess Your Heart" correct of all the Narrow Stairs songs named. The rest of the songs were by German indie band Velveteen, but due to the two bands having a very similar sound, some fans weren't sure at first if the files were in fact fake.

The song "Pity and Fear" was played on National Public Radio (NPR) in early April. Copies of the song recorded from the radio network (hence, in rather poor quality) quickly began circulating the Internet. NPR also featured a studio recording of "Cath..." as its Song of the Day on April 29, and recordings subsequently began to crop up on the Internet. In late April the song "No Sunlight" was played on Triple J Radio and recorded from the network. Also in late April, San Diego radio station 91x featured the band playing Grapevine Fires, Talking Bird, and three other songs. In addition, recordings of live versions of Long Division, Bixby Canyon Bridge, and Your New Twin Size Bed that were recorded at a show in Eugene, Oregon on April 19 can be found on the Internet. The recordings are of fairly good quality with little audible crowd noise.

On April 28, 2008 Death Cab for Cutie played six of their songs live on a Daytrotter session which were also recorded live. Two of these songs are on the new album: 'Cath...' and 'Talking Bird'. All six songs are available for free download on Daytrotter's website.

On May 2, 2008 the album leaked on the Internet in its entirety.

Several of the songs have literary or cultural themes. "Grapevine Fires" appears to be centered around the wildfires that raged in California during the summer of 2007. "Bixby Canyon Bridge" is ripe with references to Jack Kerouac's writing; Gibbard often notes that Kerouac is a favorite author in interviews, and Bixby was likely written during the artist's recent trip to Big Sur. Gibbard has written lyrics about Kerouac before - notably, his contribution of lyrics and vocals to a song by Styrofoam titled "Couches In Alleys".

Critical reception

MTV's James Montgomery referred to Narrow Stairs as "unquestionably the best thing [Death Cab has] ever done". In another positive review, Rolling Stone called the album "a dark, strangely compelling record that trades the group's bright melancholy for something nearer to despair."

Track listing

1. "Bixby Canyon Bridge" - 5:15
2. "I Will Possess Your Heart" – 8:35
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