Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs (2008)
In honour of the announcement of Death Cab’s upcoming album, Kintsugi, I’m recommending my personal favourite of the band’s seven previous albums. Though probably not the most popular or critically acclaimed of their previous work, Narrow Stairs is home to several powerful songs, like “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” “No Sunlight,” “You Can Do Better Than Me,” and “The Ice is Getting Thinner.” This is not necessarily a happy album – it’s definitely not evocative of the Ben-Gibbard-married-to-Zooey-Deschanel period – but it’s full of slow, smooth ballads to get you through the crappy grey days ahead.
