taking the "narrow" road

i'll go ahead and get my verdict out of the way: do yourself a favor and go out and buy this album. now.

for weeks all i have been reading about narrow stairs is that this will be the album that makes or breaks death cab for cutie. maybe it was just me, but i'm not sure what the major shocked was. but maybe i've been listening to just a little too much postal service because narrow stairs is about as tame as i expected when it came to "making or breaking" the band.

there are really very, very few weak tracks on this album, especially on repeated listens. the first time i finished listening to the entire cd, i wasn't particularly impressed, but upon repeated listens nearly every track grew on me--"you can do better than me" still needs to grow on me, as does "talking bird" just a bit. beyond those two tracks, i definitely think that this album was worth the wait, and it's great to see that dcfc can still make amazing music on a major label.

while many reviews i've read continuously downgrade the album by saying "it's not transatlanticism," i really must insist that you check it out. sure, maybe it's not transatlanticism, but it's certainly moving forward for death cab, and that's something that not very many bands are doing anymore.

rating: 8.5/10
buy, steal, or run?: buy