Narrow Stairs

Untitled

Narrow Stairs is the seventh 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. The first single of the album was "I Will Possess Your Heart", released on March 18, 2008.

Production and release

In October 2007, Chris Walla, producer and guitarist, 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." In a Billboard piece, Walla promised a "curve ball" and described the album: "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." Walla went on to say, "[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." Ben Gibbard, lead singer and writer, 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."

The lead single, "I Will Possess Your Heart" was released on March 18, 2008, and the band released the single on their MySpace page shortly thereafter. The song began radio play on March 24, 2008.

The album art for Narrow Stairs was created by designer EE Storey.

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.

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

On May 6, 2008 the album was released on iTunes a week early, but was set back to pre-order status the next day.

Notes

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 and fall 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". In Death Cab for Cutie's 2000 album, We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes notably, there is a song titled "Lowell, MA." Lowell, Massachusetts is where Kerouac was born.

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."

Rolling Stone, Spin, Alternative Press and Kerrang! magazine have given the album 4 out of 5 stars. Time Magazine grades Narrow Stairs a "B+"

Track listing

1. "Bixby Canyon Bridge" – 5:15
2. "I Will Possess Your Heart" – 8:35
3. "No Sunlight" – 2:40
4. "Cath..." – 3:49
5. "Talking Bird" – 3:23
6. "You Can Do Better Than Me" – 1:59
7. "Grapevine Fires" – 4:08
8. "Your New Twin Sized Bed" – 3:06
9. "Long Division" – 3:49
10. "Pity and Fear" – 4:21
11. "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" – 3:45