New Death Cab for Cutie single released today!

Exciting news in the world of music- Seattle-based indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie has just released "I Will Possess Your Heart", the first single on their upcoming album Narrow Stairs.

After reading this review, which claims Narrow Stairs is "terrifying and unsettling and liberating all at once — a record that sounds like a band throwing caution to the wind and just going for it", I have been counting down the days until I could hear it for myself.

So , like any Death Cab devotee, I waited anxiously in front of my computer screen Monday night willing the digital numbers to read 12:01 so I could have a taste of what Narrow Stairs was all about.

At 8:36 long, the song is indeed a deviation for the band. A darker bass line and disconnected piano melodies start off the song and continue for nearly five minutes into it. The raspy voice of lead singer Ben Gibbard joins with the lines
"How I wish you could see the potential, the potential of you and me
It's like a book elegantly bound, but it'll anguish that you can't read"
and soar into a more melodic sound that echoes Death Cab's usual style.

The good news is that the song does promise a different side of Death Cab. with less inhibitions and a more solid sound than the band's last release, Plans. I could see this song easily fitting into a more introspective and thoughtful record that lives up to the newly generated hype.

However, fans hoping for a throwback of 2003's Transatlanticism will be sorely disappointed. Lines like "You reject my advances and desperate plea. I won't let you, let me down so easily" come across more creepy than soulful and don't quite measure up to some of Gibbard's earlier insights on heartbreak and loneliness. The seemingly shallow lyrics are a little disappointing, but by no means is "I Will Possess Your Heart" a bad song.

Although fans might not be blown away by the first single, there is no doubt that May 13th and the release of Narrow Stairs can't come soon enough.