Death Cab for Cutie

Narrow Stairs

Atlantic Records

Grade: A

Death Cab for Cutie promised to go off the rails for the new album, in stores today.

Relax - it's not as radical as they make it sound, just another quirky masterpiece from the Washington band that'll make their success burst wide open. More poppy and accessible than previous efforts, Narrow Stairs is a brisk, focused album.

The opening track Bixby Canyon Bridge starts off with lilting vocals before crashing into fuzzy guitar; the closer is the mournful, broken The Ice Is Getting Thinner (a song about a relationship, not global warming). The eight-minute single I Will Possess Your Heart, with its skittish drums and stalker-ish lyrics, is one of the creepiest and most unnerving pieces of music on the disc.

The rest is poppy and experimental without risking alienating fans, the way Wilco did when it got a little out there with the sound effects.

The short, self-deprecating You Can Do Better Than Me has a majestic Pet Sounds style to the music, particularly in Jason McGerr's inventive drumming. Your New Twin Sized Bed is a simple song overlaid with psychedelic sounds, with a subtle story line about a person who gets rid of a perfectly fine queen-size bed for a twin - implying a breakup and/or giving up on the notion of happiness. "You look so defeated lying there in your new twin sized bed / with a single pillow underneath your single head," Ben Gibbard sings.

Narrow Stairs stays just the right amount of time before bowing out, an easy contender for top-10 albums of 2008.

brownm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2674

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