DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

Narrow Stairs (Atlantic): A

Death Cab has spent a decade making conservative, pleasant indie pop. But for its seventh album, the Washington state quartet forgoes its characteristic subtlety and simplicity. Right from the opening of “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” it’s clear the band is aiming for something shockingly different: A typical high-and-thin Ben Gibbard vocal careens as usual until slamming into a superb, big-rock crescendo of thumping drums and bass, hazy keyboards and guitar. Then the band ups the voltage with “I Will Possess Your Heart,” a menacing swirl of heavy bass, guitar and drums that Gibbard pilots toward pop. More gentle but lovely shocks are to come. By the time the frenzied, bhangra-spiced rocker “Pity and Fear” arrives, it’s time to proclaim this Death Cab’s - and maybe the year’s - finest. Download: “I Will Possess Your Heart.”