Death Cab For Cutie: 'Narrow Stairs'

Grade: C

Making the jump from an indie label to a major one can spell disaster, and many a fan heralded the demise of Death Cab For Cutie after their unfairly criticized Atlantic debut, 2005's "Plans."

Again boasting slick production and a new direction for their sound, Death Cab's follow-up, "Narrow Stairs," will shatter any expectations about this band — and here it's a compliment.

Typically grounded in warm and bright flavors,Death Cab have widened their scope dramatically on "Narrow Stairs," with synth providing dark tones and biting atmosphere — the disc floats and echoes.

Death Cab still cover the same heartfelt territory — love and happiness, rejection and regret — just with a lot more aplomb.

Disc opener "Bixby Canyon Bridge" provides a jolt, with a soft intro and frontman Ben Gibbard's emotive vocals lulling you in before a hard riff hits you over the head.

Impressive lead single "I Will Possess Your Heart" boasts an ambitious intro — maybe too much so — propelled by bass and piano before Gibbard flashes his typical eloquence: "How I wish you could see the potential/The potential of you and me/It's like a book elegantly bound/But in a language you can't read just yet."

The disc is nicely balanced between driving rock — the poppy "No Sunlight," anthemic "Cath," and joyous retro vibe of "Long Division" and "Pity and Fear" — and moody mid-tempo ballads — a poetic "Grapevine Fires" and the self-deprecating oddity of "You Can Do Better Than Me."

"Narrow Stairs" is a knockout, and will make you throw out everything you've come to know about Death Cab For Cutie.

CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: Equally sad and romantic, "Your New Twin Sized Bed" is a sweet lament to heartbreak, and Gibbard's longing vocal will touch anyone who's spent a rainy day crying in bed.

—John Kosik, Associated Press