Album A Day: Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Decided I should probably devote some of the early days of this project to stuff for the Best Of 08 list (due late this week/early next). This seemed like a good place to start.

Death Cab For Cutie always fell into the category of bands that people I know always liked, but I never got around to hearing them. I was passingly familiar with The Postal Service since their debut (I heard "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" just before it broke as a single), but Death Cab never struck me as something that would change my life.

Since I started blogging nearly two years ago I started forcing myself to broaden my horizons when it came to what I listened to, and Death Cab For Cutie got the better end of that goal. Their brand of pop and rock isn't what I would generally reach for first even now. I like my music infectious, but not headache-inducing. Death Cab is too smart for that. They'd rather have you drift in and out of focus while you listen at first, but leave just enough of an impression that you want to give them one more chance. And then another. Then one more. First time I listened to Narrow Stairs I was impressed with what they could do with a good hook, but the intellectually stimulating lyrics, while impressive, weren't easy to follow. But the more I listened, the more I got it, and the more I bought into what they were doing. As I listen now for the fourth or fifth time since picking it up, I'm sold. The charm and allure of stalker anthem "I Will Posess Your Heart" makes the song's subject matter all the creepier…exactly what Ben Gibbard hopes for. Likewise, "Your New Twin Sized Bed" is a near-perfect take on a relationship ended, the kind of thing Rob Gordon would put on a Top 5 list. It's not a perfect album, and it's certainly takes work to enjoy it, but there's enough music out there that hands out the gratification on a silver platter that sitting and finding the love for Narrow Stairs can be a welcome respite from the "stupid" rock and pop that runs rampant.

On another note, props to Ben Gibbard for proposing to Zooey Deschanel. The first story I read on this suggested that Gibbard and Deschanel had actually never met, making it significantly more awesome, but that's since been debunked.

Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Posess Your Heart [iTunes ]

Death Cab For Cutie - Your New Twin Sized Bed [iTunes ]

==TJ==