Narrow Stairs Death Cab for Cutie

• 1 Bixby Canyon Bridge 05:15
• 2 I Will Possess Your Heart 08:25
• 3 No Sunlight 02:40
• 4 Cath... 03:49
• 5 Talking Bird 03:23
• 6 You Can Do Better Than Me 01:59
• 7 Grapevine Fires 04:09
• 8 Your New Twin Sized Bed 03:05
• 9 Long Division 03:49
• 10 Pity and Fear 04:21
• 11 The Ice Is Getting Thinner 03:45
• 12 I Will Possess Your Heart (Radio Edit) 04:08
• Total Runtime 48:48

Info zu Narrow Stairs

Das nennt man Erwachsenwerden, DCFC erreichen mit diesem Album eine Art Überirdischkeit mit einem ambitionierten Album, das sie auf eine irgendwie zeit- und alterslose Ebene transformiert. Sie verweigern sich dem Mainstream völlig, keine kommerziell verwertbare Single, sondern großer Indiepop, ausschweifend, manchmal schwelgerisch, immer wieder mit Breaks und Wendungen, irgendwie fallen mir hier die Flaming Lips ein, die auf einer ähnlichen Wolke der Einzigartigkeit und Unantastbarkeit schweben. Ben Gibbard spielt auf der ganzen Klaviatur der Songwriterei, ein Album wie aus Porzellanvase, zerbrechlich, wunderschön und mit Blumen gefüllt!

"Was soll eine Band tun, die sich aus dem Indie-Lager zum Mainstream aufgemacht hat. Umkehren? Ein paar Runden im Kreisverkehr drehen? Die Richtung beibehalten? Ein bisschen von allem, um dann zerrissen da zu stehen? Nichts davon trifft zu, denn Death Cab For Cutie wirken entschlossen und präsentieren sie sich auf Narrow Stairs auf hohem Niveau.

Die in Seattle angesiedelte Gruppe, die sich nach einem Song der Bonzo Dog Band benannte, verwöhnt einen wie auf dem Vorgänger Plans diesmal nicht mit Über-Liedern wie „Soul Meets Body“ oder „I Will Follow You Into The Dark“. Also den Eintrittskarten in die große Pop-Welt mit seinen Grammy Nominierungen. Was aber in der vermeintlichen Spitze fehlt, gleicht das US-Quartett in der Breite aus, und die ist im Gegensatz zum Erfolgsalbum Plans bewusst rauer und dunkler gehalten worden. Das mit Abstand auffälligste Lied ist „I Will Possess Your Heart“ mit einem 4-minütigem, krautrockenden Instrumental-Intro, das keine klare Richtung und Songstruktur andeutet, was sich auch nicht ändert, wenn Textschreiber Benjamin Gibbard anfängt, die Geschichte um einen gestörten Stalker zu erzählen. Das passt im Gegensatz zum Up-Tempo-Stück „No Sunshine“, in dem Gibbard davon singt, wie er den jugendlichen Optimismus und die Ideale Jahr für Jahr verliert. Welch ein Kontrast zwischen Musik und Text, der auch „Your New Twin Sized Bed“ und „Long Division“ bestimmt. Die nicht selbstverständliche Freiheit, der nicht aufgebaute Erwartungsdrucks seitens der großen Plattenfirma nutzten Death Cab für ein sehr selbstbewusstes Album. Das konnte man nach Plans so nicht erwarten." (Sven NIechziol)

Ben Gibbard, Gesang, Rhythmusgitarre, Klavier, Keyboard, Schlagzeug, Drumcomputer
Nick Harmer, Bass, Begleitgesang
Jason McGerr,Schlagzeug, Perkussion
Chris Walla, Leadgitarre, Audiosequenzer, Begleitgesang, Klavier, Keyboard

Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie's rise from small-time solo project to Grammy-nominated rock band is one of indie rock's greatest success stories. Launched in the bayside college town of Bellingham, Washington, the group was originally a side project for singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard, an engineering student at Western Washington University who split his time between school and music. Taking a break from his local power pop band, Pinwheel, Gibbard began recording an album's worth of solo material during the summer of 1997. Producer Chris Walla lent his help to the sessions, which resulted in an eight-song cassette entitled You Can Play These Songs with Chords. When the tape became a local hit, Gibbard reached into his circle of friends to form a band, hoping to play the new songs live. Bassist Nick Harmer (Gibbard's roommate) and drummer Nathan Good climbed aboard, and Walla enlisted as the band's primary guitarist (he would also go on to produce most of the band's future releases). With a lineup now in place, Gibbard's group rechristened itself Death Cab for Cutie (named after a song by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band) and signed a contract with the Seattle-based Barsuk Records within a year's time.

The quartet made its studio debut with 1998's Something About Airplanes, an album that featured several re-recorded tracks from the You Can Play These Songs with Chords cassette as well as a dreamy, pop-oriented sound reminiscent of Built to Spill. Gibbard and Walla both continued to pursue their own projects (including Gibbard's successful stint with the Postal Service), but that didn't keep Death Cab for Cutie from returning to the studio for a second album, We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes, which appeared in 2000. Nathan Good left the group just prior to the album's completion, and We Have the Facts introduced Michael Schorr as Death Cab's new drummer. The Forbidden Love EP arrived that same year, while a third full-length effort, The Photo Album, was released in 2001. By this time, a sizable audience had gathered around the band's emotional music, and Barsuk re-released You Can Play These Songs with Chords in 2002 with ten additional songs.

The polished, hook-laden Transatlanticism arrived in 2003 and announced the arrival of drummer Jason McGerr, who had previously played in a band with Nick Harmer before Death Cab's formation. The album also proved to be a very important step in the band's career, gathering positive attention from consumers and industry execs (including television producer Josh Schwartz, who prominently featured the band's music throughout several seasons of The O.C.). With their popularity at an all-time high, the bandmates issued a live disc, The John Byrd E.P., and later signed a worldwide major-label deal with Atlantic Records in November 2004.

Plans was released the following summer and debuted at number four, remaining on the Billboard charts for nearly one year and achieving platinum status on the strength of three singles (including the acoustic ballad "I Will Follow You into the Dark"). Death Cab for Cutie graced the cover of Spin magazine, appeared on an episode of Saturday Night Live, and earned a Grammy nomination for their major-label debut. Work on a follow-up album coincided with the release of Chris Walla's solo effort, Field Manual, and Death Cab returned in May 2008 with Narrow Stairs, a darker effort that debuted at the top of the Billboard 200. The band proceeded to tour throughout the remainder of the year, while a deluxe version of Something About Airplanes (which was packaged with a recording of their very first show in Seattle) was released in November to introduce newer fans to Death Cab's early material.

The band continued touring throughout the first half of 2009, hitting Japan and Australia as well as an additional slew of American venues. The Open Door EP arrived that spring, featuring several scrapped songs from the Narrow Stairs sessions and a demo version of "Talking Bird." The guys incorporated some of those songs into their live sets, all the while preparing to return to the studio after the tour's completion. After a short hiatus, they reconvened for 2011's Codes and Keys, which found the band relying less on the electric guitar and more on moody, Cure-inspired song textures. The single "You Are a Tourist" performed well on the rock and alternative charts, and the album peaked at number three in the U.S. Later in 2011, Death Cab released an EP of remixes of songs from the album titled Keys and Codes Remix EP.

Touring consumed much of 2012, although Gibbard found time to record and release Former Lives, his first official solo album. The band began recording in earnest for their eighth studio album in October 2013; in the summer of the following year, however, Walla announced that it would be his last with the group. Eventually set for release in March 2015, it was named Kintsugi after the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery. Recorded for the first time with an outside producer (Rich Costey), it also marked a return to their core guitar-driven sound after the keyboard-led experiments of its predecessor.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet