Death Cab for Cutie’s sixth album, Narrow Stairs isn’t the “make or break” album that critics are positioning it to be, says Ben Gibbard. “I appreciate the drama. But I don’t really understand what’s at stake for us. Or at least, I don’t agree that what’s at stake for us is worldwide rock ‘n’ roll superstardom or working the night shift at a 7-11.”
Rather than rely on their previous structured methodology of making music, both in recording and collaboratively writing in the studio, guitarist-producer Chris Walla transcribed live performances to two-inch tape. Recording with analog simultaneously freed the band from its usual meticulously planned approach and forced a faith-based live-performance commitment. The result, according to Gibbard, is a “certain kind of swagger that’s never been in our albums.”
The band recently switched from indie label Barsuk to Atlantic Records, the type of change that often draws speculation from fans and critics alike. But although they have made what Gibbard refers to as DCFC’s “ugliest, dirtiest, loneliest” songs to date, he insists the band is not giving the finger to Atlantic, tampering the sensationalism with a list of reasons why everything’s A-OK between the band and its new label.
Death Cab For Cutie has a history of experimenting with recording processes. “Over the years we went from an 8-track on the first record to a 16-track on the second to a 24-track in a tiny studio on the third,” he says. “The way our records have sounded throughout the years has always been a function of what we had in front of us.”
Money, too, plays a role in that decision process, he admits. Though DCFC is one of the most successful indie band of its time, Gibbard says that it still uses thinking similar to Depression-Era logic in its decision-making process. “Once we had the resources to do it on a large-scale level, you would think we’d spend every penny making the record, but it’s the opposite case.” To note, this year Gibbard will be touring with a new amp not purchased in Japan for thousands of dollars but built by Walla’s guitar tech, Jesse Quitslund, out of Gibbard’s two previous Sears’ Silvertone Twin-Twelve heads.
DCFC uses the same frugality when approaching the number of tracks that will be included on its albums, narrowing 20 or so tunes down to 11 songs for Narrow Stairs. “I can’t take credit for this statement, but it’s true,” Gibbard says, “Records have gotten too long. Even my favorite band, I don’t want 85 minutes of music in one sitting. Much of our approach has to do with trying to avoid that kind of stuff. Whether or not the album as a cultural event will mean anything — if it means anything in five or 10 years — I think we want to release music in that format, because it’s the format we work really well in.”
As for any lingering concerns about the fate of the band, Gibbard has this to say, “This being our sixth record, I highly doubt that what we’ve just made is going to be the kind of thing that makes everybody forget about us or congruently launches us. We’re never going to be U2.”
– Sheba White
Death Cab for Cutie: www.deathcabforcutie.com
Atlantic Records: www.atlanicrecords.com
Barsuk: www.barsuk.com