Narrow Stairs

Recording and production

In October 2007, producer and guitarist 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." In a Billboard piece, Walla 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."

In 2011 Walla stated, "the master plan for Narrow Stairs was to be as invisible and hands-off as a producer as I possibly could. I was really interested in seeing what would happen. When we started that record, we had been on tour for the better part of two years. All we could remember was being on stage and playing. So the whole idea was: what happens if we’re just on stage and we play, except we’re in the studio and we’re recording?" Walla added "Narrow Stairs was very much a commitment to just crashing through the songs as we recorded them, like four people in a room."

Writing and composition

While promoting the band's subsequent album, Codes and Keys (2011), Benjamin Gibbard reflected upon Narrow Stairs' lyrical content, stating, "That record is kind of a fulcrum in my life. So much of the negativity in my life got funneled into it. I realized after that I didn't want to go any darker. I wanted it to be the bottom for this band and my own emotional spectrum in terms of writing. I had no grandiose plans to turn my life around."

Critical reception

The album holds a score of 73 out of 100 from Metacritic based on "generally favorable reviews". MTV's James Montgomery referred to Narrow Stairs as "unquestionably the best thing [Death Cab has] ever done". Rolling Stone called the album "a dark, strangely compelling record that trades the group's bright melancholy for something nearer to despair." In his Consumer Guide, Robert Christgau gave it a two-star honorable mention (), while picking out two songs from the album ("You Can Do Better Than Me" and "Grapevine Fires") and stating that the album has "Unfailingly melodic, surprisingly dynamic, somewhat overextended love problems, and if [Ben is] so smart why doesn't he shelve music and solve them?"

The album has been highly rated by critics and fans, having been awarded 4 stars out of 5 by publications such as Rolling Stone, Blender Kerrang!, Uncut, Alternative Press, The Times, The Observer, The Independent and The Guardian, as well as by the websites Allmusic, Consequence of Sound, and Tiny Mix Tapes. TIME magazine awarded the album a "B+" rating, with The A.V. Club giving it an "A" rating. Boston radio station WERS ranked Narrow Stairs as the No.8 album of 2008 based on a listener poll. Even more favorable reviews come from such publishers as Under the Radar (with nine stars out of ten), Billboard, The Boston Globe, Hartford Courant, Paste (seven out of ten), and Filter (70%).

Other reviews that are given three stars out of five are Mojo, Q, Now, and Prefix Magazine (six out of ten), as well as the website Sputnikmusic. Publishers that have mixed reviews are Slant Magazine (two-and-a-half stars out of five), Hot Press (2.5 out of five), The Austin Chronicle (two stars out of five), and The Village Voice.

Commercial performance

In its debut week, Narrow Stairs reached the No.1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 144,000 copies and scoring the band its first No.1 album. One week later it fell to No.5 with 52,000 copies. As of January 31, 2009, the album has sold over 475,000 copies in the US. Narrow Stairs was certified Gold by the RIAA in February 2009, for shipments of 500,000 copies.

Narrow Stairs was nominated for the "Best Alternative Music Album" award at the 51st Grammy Awards. In addition, "I Will Possess Your Heart" was nominated for "Best Rock Song".

Track listing

The later two demos were also included on the vinyl LP edition of the album.

Personnel

Release history

The album was initially released on May 12, 2008, in the United Kingdom and on the following day in the United States.