MOG

well, it isn't in any way my favorite dcfc album, but i like it. it's dark and brooding, like their old stuff, but more lyrically mature, like their newer stuff. i think it's a nice melange of the old intensity and new production.

i think there's a lot of layers in all of their songs, and each listen seems to uncover more and more complexities. i think this is definitely the best of their major label albums, but not the best overall.

i think the reason it's getting so much praise is because everyone sees them as some bland indie rock hipster shit, and this album is the first (of their major label) with some teeth. it's the first time most people have heard them having a dark side. i, on the other hand, have been listening to their dark side since "airplanes" and felt disappointed with "plans", which felt studio-ish to me. i like "stairs" because it feels more like "airplanes" and "transatlanticism" but with the slick production of "plans". it works for me...

I really didn't listen to dcfc until just before Plans came out. I thought Plans was pretty dark though. This album has been touted as being very dark, but like you said, it's complex. The light of the music provides a great balance to the dark of the lyrics. Plans didn't have that balance. It was as dark musically as it was lyrically. It seems like dcfc is the more serious side of Mr. Gibbard these days, while he's getting his pop ya yas out with The Postal Service (who I sincerely hope comes out with a masterful album this year, or that bastard Bob Boilin is playing a dirty trick on his Alll Songs Considered listeners...he teased us last fall that he had been listening to the new ps album and was really loving it). Overall, I dig this album as much as anything else they've put out to date.

I personally think Narrow Stairs has songs that border on brilliance...and a couple that just don't. I reviewed the snot out of it here on MOG a few days ago but really I think we need to just LISTEN to it, preferably with headphones.

I think it's a pretty strong album. It has definitely gotten a lot of play from me. I started listening to them around Transatlantacism though. I like Plans a lot but thought Transatlantacism was the better album. This album sounds more like what I like out of this band: dark, brooding music that makes me smile while questioning where things went wrong.

I'm also eagerly awaiting a new Postal Service album. It better release this year. I can't take the waiting any longer. At least I have this excellent album to comfort me in the meantime. :)