Throughout their career, and especially since they were forever enshrined as the favorite band of sardonic emo kid Seth Cohen on television’s THE OC, Death Cab For Cutie have always been known as indie rock’s most famous sensitive guys. Even at their most abrasive on previous albums like PLANS and WE HAVE THE FACTS AND WE’RE VOTING YES, Ben Gibbard and crew have always had an inherent gentleness along with the low-key pop sensibility that allowed them to make the jump from the indie fringe to major-label stardom. The ambitious, experimental NARROW STAIRS is Death Cab For Cutie’s unexpectedly edgy response to any preconceptions, a wide-ranging, noisy and exciting album that sounds little like anything they’ve done before. From the epic-length first single. “I Will Possess Your Heart.” through the spacy, almost psychedelic “Pity and Fear” and the noise-riddled “Your New Twin Sized Bed,” NARROW STAIRS is Death Cab For Cutie’s equivalent to Radiohead’s KID A, a bracingly ambitious attempt to counter expectations as their stardom ascends.

Tracklisting
1. Bixby Canyon Bridge
2. I Will Possess Your Heart
3. No Sunlight
4. Cath…
5. Talking Bird
6. You Can Do Better Than Me
7. Grapevine Fires
8. Your New Twin Sized Bed
9. Long Division
10. Pity And Fear
11. The Ice Is Getting Thinner

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.66) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[T]he album is as dark as anything the band has done….[T]he most indelible moment is ‘Grapevine Fires,’ a minor-key processional framed by churchy organ and electric piano.”

Spin (p.48) – Ranked #25 in Spin’s “40 Best Albums Of 2008″ — “Every album gets slightly more refined, with Ben Gibbard and Co. stretching their sound…”

Entertainment Weekly (p.121) – “Death Cab’s ebullience makes this a redemptive work about sadness. And there’s nothing NARROW-minded about that.” — Grade: B

Alternative Press (p.125) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[T]hey still contribute stand-alone pop gems….Their sound is timeless. ‘Your New Twin Sized Bed’ is especially a stand-out, with a midtempo, acoustic-driven melody…”

Kerrang (Magazine) (p.47) – “Spacious, ambitious and bolder than ever, DCFC have struck gold once more. Magic.”

Q (Magazine) (p.138) – 3 stars out of 5 — “[T]hey’ve shaken things up, most headspinningly with the eight-minute slab of instrumental loveliness ‘I Will Possess Your Heart’…”