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Narrow Stairs is far from desperate, however, and the album's willingness to steer Death Cab into unfamiliar territory (or, to reference an earlier lyric, "into the dark"), is by far its strongest asset.
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The songs here hit with a full-on assault of crunching guitar riffs, distorted, cracked vocals and walls of disorienting feedback, while lyrically, frontman Ben Gibbard visits the moodier and darker corners of his mind.
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Ben Gibbard has shown growth which each successive release, and made the jump to hooky pop-songsmith with the Postal Service's (apparently) one-off collaboration, but Narrow Stairs feels stagnant, devoid of even the superficial pleasures present on Plans.
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Not the rock assault Gibbard thinks it is, but certainly more hard-hitting than ever.
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At times, the maturation feels forced; the more adventurous moments here are experimental only for such a high-profile group, and they don't play to Gibbard's sentimental, word-weighing strengths.
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Narrow Stairs finds Gibbard more than willing to play to type, offering the same staid character sketches he’s used since his first EP and songs that reiterate his point, that, like, love can be rough on you.
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Gibbard's indie-rock blues still plumb emotional depths with remarkable literary detail.
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Death Cab mostly abandons the full-sounding multi-tracked production they preferred during their rise to primetime soap stardom, and the effect is unflattering.
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The quartet are more impressive, and moving, when they try less hard.
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Alternative PressThe real reason narrow Stairs works so well is that despite the band's more esoteric experiments, they still contribute standalone pop hits. [June 2008, p.125]
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BlenderThis LP, which matches "Transatlanticism" as Death Cab's best. [June 2008, p.71]
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FilterThroughout Narrow Stairs, the band allows itself to open up, twisting and tinkering the same old style to their liking with mixed results. [Spring 2008, p.90]
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Under The RadarNarrow Stairs proves that with Death Cab For Cutie, it's possible to relax and let them do their own thing. Which is a remarkable thing indeed. [Spring 2008, p.75]
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This time out the musical gambles are bolder and the outcome proportionally more dramatic.
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While that may sound dangerously morose, Death Cab have become skilled with the light/dark juxtaposition.
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Narrow Stairs finds Death Cab comfortable with all aspects of its musical personality--and on top of them all.
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Narrow Stairs is the sound of a band falling in love with the concept of sound; as such, Gibbard’s stately lyricism largely takes a backseat--although his voice has never sounded more different and varied.
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It may not be perfect, but it was certainly worth the wait.
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It's their mediocre album.
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It's by no means a cheery album, but Narrow Stairs shows Death Cab for Cutie has overcome its major-label jitters and resumed making vital music.
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Caught between the indie-pop that they so cleverly deviated and their new found ambitious sound, Death Cab For Cutie have lost themselves.
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A lesser band would shadow Gibbard's woe with their shoulders hunched. Instead, Death Cab's ebullience makes this a redemptive work about sadness.
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When Gibbard gets out of his own head, the confrontation between his tuneful optimism and the real world can yield an exhilarating dramatic tension.
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MojoIf the imagery on this album is often solemn--ice, looming meteorological disaster, remote canyons--it isn't melodramtically so. [June 2008, p.109]
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Q MagazineIt's as if, in the very best sense, they don't care any more. [June 2008, p.138]
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On its own, it has some great moments, and it is a very good pop/rock record.
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Inoffensively bland offering from US indie pop outfit.
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While Narrow Stairs may scale down the melody-assaults of previous efforts, with their fresh groove and whiff of rebellion, Death Cab announce themselves as genuine rock stars.
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It’s a predictable formula, a majority of the tracks building to a triumphant climax set to an egg timer, peppered with forced witticisms, seemingly culled from Postsecret, that have reached a new apex of laziness.
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UncutThis is the sound of a band surprising itself. [July 2008, p.92]
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Perhaps if there were more self-exploration and less chemical dependency on the old standby, heartbreak, Narrow Stairs wouldn't sound, to paraphrase the band, like settling.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 82 out of 99
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Mixed: 9 out of 99
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Negative: 8 out of 99
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Jan 21, 2018
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Dec 15, 2012
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Oct 8, 2011