Simply put, Death Cab for Cutie’s Narrow Stairs is what music is all about. All eleven tracks, from the rhyming “Bixby Canyon Bridge” to the soft yet entrancing “The Ice is Getting Thinner,” reveal to the listener a doorway to a place where vocals do not just provide words to a song–they are there as a vital piece of the instrumentation and wholeness of the song. Death Cab is comprised of a guitarist in Chris Walla, a bassist in Nick Hammer, a drummer in Jason McGerr, and the lead vocalist, guitarist, and pianist in Benjamin Gibbard. Although one can sit and review the meanings behind the emotion embedded within each track, this is not my mission. It is far more worthy to discuss Gibbard’s attempt at going against the status quo and creating a spectacular album that shines in almost every way.
Continue after the break.