\n Death Cab for Cutie have become the vanguard of the indie rock movement ever since Josh Schwartz plastered the band all over "The O.C
Now, with their second major label release, Narrow Stairs, Death Cab has made a stark departure from the style of their last two releases. It reverts back more to the less produced, less polished feel of their pre-Transatlanticism work, with more of a rock tone as opposed to their more traditional, softer indie rock.
The risk taken by the band in changing their sound is an admirable one – Death Cab For Cutie is a fairly popular and established band now, so they have a lot to lose by changing a formula that has clearly worked before. Typically, such a risk should be praised, but at first listen, Narrow Stairs is inferior to Death Cab’s prior works.
The album isn’t terrible; as there are definitely very bright spots throughout. The album’s first song, "Bixby Canyon Bridge," is one of the better songs the band has ever written. It’s more hard-rock than anything the band has released to this point - though, in the grand scheme of things, that’s not saying a lot. The band pulls off the different sound quite well on this track, however.
The album’s second song and first single, "I Will Possess Your Heart," is also out of character and fairly strong. The song starts with a five-and-a-half-minute-long jam before lead singer and lyricist Ben Gibbard enters with lyrics. The song works well, but isn’t nearly dynamic enough – the instrumental portion gets stale after a couple of minutes, and the lyric section does the same. Despite that, though the song is a positive.
Unfortunately for listeners, however, these first two songs on Narrow Stairs are also the best two tracks. After these, the album is very inconsistent. "No Sunlight" doesn’t really go anywhere lyrically or musically and is obviously filler. "Talking Bird," though in a completely different style, is largely the same – it goes nowhere. However, "Grapevine Fires" and "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" both are strong and more similar to Death Cab’s older work.
\nNarrow Stairs
, while a good album, still disappoints; it simply does not stand up to Death Cab For Cutie’s older material. It definitely takes several listens to get into, but despite its inconsistency, it is still worth the effort.
