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Article: CD Review: Death Cab For Cutie's "Narrow Stairs." ; Ben Gibbard and the boys pull the sound in for eccentric and daring new album
- Article from:
- St. Joseph News-Press
- Article date:
- May 16, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2008 St. Joseph News-Press. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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This decade's most heralded Seattle band Death Cab For Cutie have
built their following on two foundations: There's singer/songwriter
Ben Gibbard, with his fragile, boyish tenor and his tales of
dishevled love and nostalgiac longing. Then there's the rest of the
band, with Chris Walla providing clashing guitar nirvana with bass
and guitar shading in the lines.
On their fifth album and first major label release "Plans,"
Gibbard tried to get expansive, using his piano to plant the melodic
seed that redwood-sized arrangements grew out of. It wasn't Death
Cab at their most powerful, but it was the group at its most precise
and downright pretty.
"Narrow Stairs" finds the band shrinking its sound ...