SONG OF THE DAY

“Cath…” by Death Cab For Cutie (Narrow Stairs, Barsuk Records/ Atlantic Records, 2008). Written by Ben Gibbard.

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– “Cath…” is the second single from Death Cab for Cutie’s sixth studio album, Narrow Stairs.

– While the song did not earn placement on many worldwide charts, or the main U.S. pop chart, it did hit #10 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart.

– The music video of the song, directed by Autumn de Wilde, is a unique turn for the band in the fact that all four members mouth the words of the song, despite only Ben Gibbard actually singing on the song. The video reflects the song’s lyrics and the story they tell: A woman (“Cath,” portrayed by Beth Riesgraf) is about to be wed to a “well-intentioned man,” yet does not love him, still infatuated with a former love (portrayed by Lukas Haas) watching the ceremony. It was inspired by Emily Bronte’s famous novel Wuthering Heights.

– For promotion, the video was available for remixing on MTV’s online video mixer.

– The first single of the album was “I Will Possess Your Heart”, released on March 18, 2008. The second single is “Cath…”.

– The album was their first album to reach #1 on the Billboard 200.

– In October 2007, Chris Walla, producer and guitarist, said that Death Cab for Cutie’s new album “is in full swing; we’re six songs in”. He went on to say “thus far it’s pretty weird and pretty spectacular; lots of blood. It’s creepy and heavy… we’ve got a ten minute long Can jam, and had you suggested that possibility to me in 1998, I’d have eaten your puppy’s brain with a spoon”.

– In a Billboard piece, Walla promised a “curve ball” and described the album: “It’s really weird. It’s really, really good, I think, but it’s totally a curve ball, and I think it’s gonna be a really polarizing record. But I’m really excited about it. It’s really got some teeth. The landscape of the thing is way, way more lunar than the urban meadow sort of thing that has been happening for the last couple of records.” Walla went on to say, “[It’s also] louder and more dissonant and […] I think abrasive would be a good word to use. [We were influenced by] heavy, sludgy, slow metal [and] synth-punk band Brainiac.”

– Ben Gibbard, lead singer and writer, commented, “I just don’t feel like we really have anything to prove of it other than to ourselves and to making a record we really enjoy.”

– On March 31, a fake version of the album was “leaked” on a music blog and spread to various torrent sites as an April Fool’s prank with only “I Will Possess Your Heart” correct of all the Narrow Stairs songs named. The rest of the songs were by German indie band Velveteen, but due to the two bands having a very similar sound, some fans weren’t sure at first if the files were in fact fake.

– On May 6, 2008, the album was released on iTunes a week early, but was set back to pre-order status the next day.

– On December 9, 2008, the album was released on vinyl record.

– The cover art was created by designer EE Storey, the art director for Tegan and Sara.

– The album has received mostly positive reviews. MTV’s James Montgomery referred to Narrow Stairs as “unquestionably the best thing [Death Cab has] ever done”. In another positive review, Rolling Stone called the album “a dark, strangely compelling record that trades the group’s bright melancholy for something nearer to despair.” The album has so far been highly rated by critics and fans, having been awarded 4 stars out of 5 by publications such as Rolling Stone, Kerrang!, Spin, Alternative Press, The Times, The Independent and The Guardian, as well as by the website Allmusic. Time magazine and Consequence of Sound both awarded the album a “B+” rating, with the AV Club giving an “A” rating, while positive reviews have also been given by Mojo, People, The Album Project, Patrol, AbsolutePunk and PopMatters, among several others. It has a rating of 73 on music review aggregator Metacritic.

– As of January 31, 2009, the album has sold over 475,000 copies in the US. Narrow Stairs was certified Gold by the RIAA in February 2009, for shipments of 500,000 copies.

– Narrow Stairs was nominated for the “Best Alternative Music Album” award at the 51st Grammy Awards. In addition, “I Will Possess Your Heart” was nominated for “Best Rock Song”.

– Death Cab for Cutie is an American indie rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997.

– The band consists of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar), Chris Walla (guitar, production), Nick Harmer (bass) and Jason McGerr (drums).

– Gibbard took the band name from the title of the song written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshall and performed by their group, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, in The Beatles’ 1967 film, Magical Mystery Tour. The song’s name was in turn taken from a pulp fiction crime magazine.

– The band had been contacted by major labels on and off for several years but it was only after Transatlanticism had proven very successful that they decided to start talking to labels about a potential deal. Having already achieved considerable success meant that they would be able to negotiate a lot of creative freedom. According to Kurland they spoke to “pretty much all of them” and then decided they were most excited by what Atlantic had to offer.
In November 2004, Death Cab for Cutie signed a “long-term worldwide deal” with Atlantic Records, leaving their long-time label Barsuk Records. Gibbard stated on the official website that nothing would change except that “next to the picture of Barsuk holding a 7”, there will be the letter “A” on both the spine and back of our upcoming albums.”

– After signing to Atlantic, the band was still nervous about corporate economics, and encouraged fans to download its songs from the Internet.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Here’s the link to the youtube.com posting of the official music video from 2008.